


Collide

by DarkWriter00



Category: Death Note
Genre: Drama, F/M, Gen, Interesting Plot, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-24
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-27 12:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 67,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/979087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkWriter00/pseuds/DarkWriter00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not quite your typical "holy crap I'm in Death Note" story. It began as just an ordinary weekday morning for Marianne, to what she could remember... She's somehow wound up in the world of a favorite, very exciting fandom, yet there's one very big problem; She doesn't know how she got there! There is a gap in Marianne's memory between though where she was on her way to work, and waking up from unconsciousness with a very bad headache in a hospital at Tokyo.</p><p>Beyond anyone's control, even her own, her arrival changes pretty much everything! Nothing seems the way she's read or watched it. Marianne strongly feels she must protect herself by not revealing she doesn't belong in that world, and that she knows what would've happened if she hadn't shown up there. Most especially from Light Yagami.</p><p>How long will THAT last? Will she be able to return home, or will she end up dead?</p><p>Original characters will be included, along with the others we know and love. Connections and bonds will be made. Lives and destinies may or will be changed as the mystery behind Marianne's abrupt, unexpected arrival gets slowly revealed. How will L see humanity differently? What will Light decide to do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Hell of a Situation

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, I started writing this as a little experiment. Yet, as I kept thinking about and writing more of this interesting concept, I wanted to keep going! I'm hooked on this story now, and my handful of readers/fans at FF.net are too! 
> 
> This is a self insert of sorts... I might write in some changes to my own Sim of a character (lol), but otherwise she in personality and music taste, etc, she's very much like myself. Usually, in stories similar to this, I tend to put in realism so no--this isn't a Mary Sue.

_Pain_... Pain was felt across her forehead as she was coming to. She didn't like the feeling. It felt as if someone had whacked her hard with a sledgehammer, or something like that.

The smell of rubbing alcohol and overall sterile air had entered her nostrils upon breathing in, and there was the sound of what had to be...whispering? It seemed like it, but she could not hear what was being said.

Marianne could hear herself moaning softly as what sounded like a guy was voicing concern nearby. "Are you awake?" In hearing the background noise more clearly in becoming more awake, whatever was whispering actually _wasn't_ a whisper, but more like a soft papery sound. She thought she heard someone putting a light weight object down somewhere.

Her eyes weren't quite open yet, and she knew it would hurt to nod. Using speech was the way to respond. "Yeah. Guess so." She could feel a gauze bandage around her forehead when she reached to lightly touch where it hurt.

_What happened? Oww, it hurts. Why?_ _**Why** _ _does my head hurrrt? The last thing I remember... I was waiting for the bus to go to work..._

The reply came as somewhat concerned. "Oh, good. I was starting to worry. I'll be right back with the doctor."

 _Doctor? I'm in a hospital? I'm hurt_ _ **that bad**_ _?_ "Wait." Her eyes fluttered open right away, alert. She didn't have to look hard to see who was standing up beside her in, indeed, a _hospital bed_. He had light brown hair, hinted with auburn seen under the florescent lighting, that were somewhat long and grew and curved towards his face. Long bangs swept downward and hung low over his eyes that were a bit darker shade of brown. He seemed like he'd prefer to be helpful over harmful. Also, as Marianne was taking in his appearance in that instant, he looked to be Asian, and in his late teens. "What hospital is this? Where am I?"

"We're inside Tokyo Medical University," he replied. His eyes portrayed much concern as he was looking back at her. There was no mistaking the slight Asian accent as he spoke to her in clear English. "I saw you unconscious on the ground outside the window, at my school."

Marianne's inner alarm bells were ringing loudly.

"H-Hold on. _Tokyo_? As in Tokyo, _Japan_?" Clearly from the way he was dressed and of course his age, this person had to be a Japanese student from someplace, in which wearing a school uniform was required. He wore this light brown, lightweight coat over a buttoned up white shirt. His red tie was the kind he'd have to tie into a knot himself, not a clip-on.

 _Holy shit, I'm in_ _ **JAPAN**_?!

To confirm this shocking revelation, she swore she could hear more distant voices coming from outside the room, Japanese voices. She could recognize the way the language was spoken ( _and_ sang) mostly from what she recognized while watching anime or crazy Japanese game shows, as well as listening to some J-Rock and J-Pop...

Soon, she recognized the Japanese student staring at her a bit strangely and also looked to be confused, but there were traces of worry in his eyes and voice. "Yeah. We're both in Jap—"

She jolted upright in a panic, causing the young man to abruptly stop in mid-sentence, startled. "Owww, fffffuck," she hissed as a new fresh blast of pain began to spread out within her cranium. It was as if someone had rammed her into something as hard and solid as a cement block.

"You shouldn't be making any sudden movement, or putting stress to your injury," he said as he helped her lay back down, slowly. "Listen. You're hurt very bad, so you need to take it easy."

Marianne could clearly tell he was _very_ fluent in speaking English, but there was no mistaking the light Japanese accent there. She suddenly felt eternally grateful of him being able to speak her country's language, but only for a fleeting moment as she gaped at him. "I was _knocked out unconsci_...?" The shock of him saying that, mixed in with more head pain, surfaced as she was incapable of finishing the question. Her frantic brain was busy, struggling to figure out why she was in _Japan_ , and not where she ought to be—at _work_ back in northeastern U.S.

Her freaking out was starting to freak _him_ out a little, it seemed. "What's wrong? You don't remember _what happened_?"

"N-No I don't." She felt the adrenaline and panic well up in her throat as she choked the next word out. "Shit." She was already shoving a hand into a front pocket of her jeans to reach for her phone. That same word came out a bit more tersely as she retrieved it. " _Shit_..."

Before her eyes, the guy was concerned about her, and struggling a bit in his calm composure. "Please calm down. Just who are you about to call?"

"I'm not supposed to freaking _**be**_ in Japan," she told him. _Ow, ow, ow—no, no more raising my voice. Head hurts badly enough!_ "How'd the hell did I end up all the way _across the far east_? I was standing on the street corner near where I live, in Maryland, USA. This isn't right. _Not right at_ _ **all**_... What _time_ is it? Shit, I'd better call my dad."

_How am I in Japan?! What's_ _**going on** _ _?!_

Her heart was pounding and racing as she found herself unable to recall anything. Most of the rest of the nerves were revving on overdrive over the shock of— _ **hello**_ , being in another country, far, far away from home in Southern Maryland!

_What the fuck is happening? This is so, so scary. This feels real, and not a dream. Too freakin'_ _**bizarre** _ _of a dream. Why does my head hurt so much...?_

She could see the dude standing there staring at her, his eyes opening wider than normal. If she wasn't _freaking out_ so much and wincing in pain every now and then, she would've been feeling bad for causing him to worry so much.

Her supposed savior (he _did_ say he saw her knocked out) was now trying to reach her at a firmer approach. "Okay, ma'am? You _really should_ calm down. Take a moment or two to breathe, before you end up hurting yourself worse."

As he said this, her eyes had welled up. Before she realized it, tears had started to pour down her face. She followed his advice and tried breathing deeply in, then out.

His voice went softer after he sat back down in the chair beside her bed. "I understand that you're really frightened-but I can assure you that everything will be fine, and you'll be back with your dad hopefully soon. Because mine is a chief police officer. With his help, maybe we could figure all this out."

It took a moment of taking in a shaky breath and letting it out, she let him know she registered all of what he just said. "Okay." Much to Marianne's dismay, her voice came out more quieter than she wanted it to.

_He's a very nice person, to be helping me like this... Yeah, getting help from the police sounds good._

He nodded to her, encouraging. He looked so determined to help her. "It may take some time, but eventually your memory will come back."

Marianne wanted so badly to believe him that everything was going to be fine. She wanted to trust him. _I have no choice at this point. It hurts too much to move around a lot, and I_ _ **know**_ _I don't have any money to fly myself back to Maryland..._ _Damn, this is messed up!_

Do you remember what your name is? Mine is Light Yagami."

Marianne's previous well intended thoughts immediately flew the coup as _that_ was said. She could feel her eyes widening, as she knew how familiar that very name sounded to her. The pain she felt was suddenly somewhat distant as she remembered where she heard that name.

She looked at the young man, taking in his appearance more carefully. The way his hair seemed to be a little long and brushed over, and his uniform looking so much like how he was dressed on the front cover of the first of an entire manga series she has, back home. His skin seemed to have that tan...of someone who had frequently went out doors to keep up appearances to maintain a "social status", no doubt about that.

She could feel all of the creepy-crawly chills that were on the rise along her spine as she was laying in that bed very, very still.

 _ **Oh my god**_...

There has been a manga series called _Death_ Note that mentioned Shinigami and a rather mad genius of a young man whose name was Light Yagami. He took on the alias the people of Japan came up with, Kira (a word taken from the English word _killer_ ) and used every sneaky, deceiving, and dirty trick he had against the Japanese police, FBI, and very smart detectives to play God in a grand attempt of things to kill off criminals all over the world...

_And he_ _**just said** _ _his father is a police chief—HOLY SHIT_ _**THAT REALLY IS LIGHT ISN'T IT** _ _?! Certainly LOOKS LIKE IT. What the fuck is going **ON**?!_

Now she wasn't so sure to believe if Light truly cared about her. "What is it? You can't remember your name either?"

Suddenly, everything became much more scarier than before. How, just HOW, did she end up _**in the world of Death Note**_?!

Just then, a woman wearing a white coat came walking in. "Ah, you're awake now. That is good news." She walked in and stopped beside Light Yagami, smiling. Her long dark hair was tied back in a long ponytail as her pretty face expressed gentle concern.

Her own Japanese accent came out a bit thicker, but spoke English just as fluently as Light, who moved to stand in front of her.

Marianne was soon finding herself trying to hold in at least most of that fresh new layer of fear as she looked between them. _If I scream, I'll only hurt worse. Shit, what do I **DO**? Head hurts so much. I won't get far if I run._

Light spoke to the doctor very calmly and seriously. "Dr. Suki, approach this patient gently—because she's very scared and doesn't seem to be really sure what's happened to her. She might not remember who she is either... I'm going to call my father about this."

Marianne was finding herself at a loss for words as she could see that Light, the very guy she _knew_ was seriously messed up and ambitiously wanted to force a paradise without crime—it seemed like he _genuinely_ cared about her well being. Did he _really_?

_Where in the manga or anime is this? Is it... Wait. Could this taking place BEFORE he found the Death Note, or do the Yotsuba guys have one, and Light has lost his memories of the Death Note after telling Ryuk leaves to bury the one Misa had? Or is he_ _**pretending** _ _to be nice?_

Where was that Death Note anyway, whichever of at least _two_ he had been using? She was very sure about him using that many, because she remembered very well reading about him manipulating people, and killing people involving that murder notebook! _**In which is real**_ _! Light, the Death Note, L, Mello, Near, Ryuk, Misa, Rem—it's_ _ **all REAL**_ _!_

Before Marianne could estimate further as to _where_ in the books she was, she saw Light sit back in the chair, calmly speaking to her. "It's all right. Dr. Suki's a nice person, and just wants to know how you're doing."

"That's true. I'd like to ask you some questions, if that's okay," the doctor said.

She could hardly look at this Dr. Suki. Mostly, she had her eyes glued to Light, who was _sitting there_ like a _real person_. This was so surreal. This was-this was all too much for her mind to absorb and understand. She had some doubts on what Light said about the doctor. Who really knew? She could've been a Kira worshipper! It took every single ounce of what self control she had _not_ to scream, or attempt to make a run for it. Because that would've just cause her head to throb and ache more, and she knew she wouldn't succeed on escaping. _I can't die here. No way... Certainly not by_ _ **Death Note**_ _._

_Fuck. Does he even_ _**know** _ _that I know he's Kira?! That's got to be why he's here. I know in my canvas bag is volume 8 of the manga. He SAW it, didn't he?! But that doesn't explain why I'm in this reality_ _**with him** _ _._

Marianne looked at Light, yet she couldn't get herself to say anything. Even if she tried to tell him to, say, _**go away**_ , the words wouldn't come. There wasn't a way for her to know for sure whether or not he truly cared about her well being, or what was going to happen, for if he was going to use her for something, he certainly wasn't going to say anything _now_. She was having difficulty wrapping her head around everything that was happening as she felt more tears coming down her face. Yet she held on and tried to cage in her panic as she silently went over what she knew. She had to think of something, a way to _not die_.

_I was outside near Light's school somewhere, he said. Which one? To-Oh University, or Daikoku Academy? He doesn't know who I am, at least. As long as I don't tell him my_ _**real name** _ _, I'm safe. ...Unless he intends to bring Misa over. Damn it! This is bad,_ _**very** _ _bad. I want out of here, but I don't how far I'll get without_ _**Kira** _ _catching up to me._

Light started to lean forward as the Dr. Suki stood next to him to say, "I promise you are safe here. There's nothing to be scared about. We're here to know how we can help you."

To be sure he wasn't going to _do anything_ , Marianne looked at him in the eyes. Was that real concern coming from him? She didn't know, for she knew he was capable of blindsiding just about _anybody_ without them suspecting. Unless it was someone like L, Near, or Mello-he would manipulate, backstab or double-cross, then get away with it.

There was no danger she could see-nothing that would have her thinking she Light was going to harm her. He just seemed like he was trying to help her relax. "You know you can't leave unless she knows how you're feeling. Before you call your dad, please just hear her out."

Dr. Suki was trying to do the same. "Yes. Please try to relax, miss... If you can, could you tell me your name?"

 _Might as well give him my just first name—or perhaps part of it. I don't know where Misa is, but it probably won't be long before Light finds out I'm trying to hide my name... Where's the Death Note? Where's the second Kira?_ "...Mari. That's my name."

Just after that, she allowed herself to relax a little. Still matter how calm he seemed, her paranoia of him overall wasn't going to leave. _Sorry, but I can only trust you as far as I can_ _ **fucking**_ _ **throw you**_ _, and that's not far at all. I'm not an idiot, Light!_

Marianne almost glared with loathing at Light, but didn't. Instead, she glanced to Dr. Suki as she came close and spoke softly. "I only have a few more questions I'd like to ask you, Mari-san. This won't take long. Only a minute. Maybe two."

 _As much as I can't trust him, it might be a good idea to make sure I'll be okay..._ It couldn't hurt. She was certain Light wouldn't use the Death Note here, not in front of herself, or the doctor. No, he always wrote names into the notebook when no one was watching.

 _I think L is still alive. For some reason, I have that hunch_ , Marianne thought as she looked from Light back to Dr. Suki. "All right, let's do it." The words she was able to get out sounded more along the lines of how her voice usually sounded. For the first time in what felt like several minutes to her, she had pulled herself together.

Light again looked so serious. "I'll call Dad," he said, looking from the doctor back to Marianne as he stood up straight. Was he going to leave the room to call Soichiro Yagami, or do something behind her back that was dangerous? There had to be some reason as to why Light had remained until she woke up. She wasn't going to let him _get away_.

At the same time, she realized how paranoid she was feeling. In knowing who Light exactly was, given how corrupted he was and how _wrong_ his sense of justice was, she knew she was at the right to feel that way.

_I think I maybe_ _**am** _ _involved in the Kira case somehow, a part of whatever it is he's doing, to gain the upper hand...or he could not have memories of the Death Note and is truly worried. Either way, I need to find some_ _**control** _ _in this mess._

She willingly reached out to wrap a hand around one of Light's wrists, even though it wasn't something she _ever_ wanted to do. Yet she knew she had to do it if she wanted to make it through this _alive_. "D-Don't leave. Please?"

Light nodded and once more took his seat back by her hospital bed. "Of course." He held onto her hand, hesitantly. He seemed a bit uncomfortable, but in knowing how much of an expert deceiver he was, it was like she could read his mind right now. _'I'll do this, making her think I know that this is the right thing to do...' Right._

Again, it was hard to know whether he was being genuinely kind to her or working playing the charm, thinking that Marianne was an easy game piece to manipulate, the sexist. _He thinks all women are gullible and stupid—but_ _ **I'm not**_ _... Maybe keeping him from leaving is what he wants. He's waiting for Dr. Suki to leave, right? By then he'll_ _ **threaten me all he wants**_ _. If he tries, I'll FIGHT him if I have to! If I **have** to..._

In the middle of feeling uncomfortable and scared, she began to feel some anger coming into that mixture of the tornado storm of emotions. She also believed she had no choice but to have him stay close by. It was either that—or to die by heart attack, or worse.

_I'd better keep an eye on him for now. I can't know for sure what he's doing or thinking unless I know where that damn_ _**Death Note** _ _is._

_I don't believe I'll be able to reach either my mom or dad, because I'm in the freaking manga world of Death Note. Even if I called the police, Light would...!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who may be re-reading any chapters, you may notice that I've edited and added stuff in to improve this story more. I'm getting all this done before writing any new chapters!
> 
> I'm on fanfiction.net more by the way. I read stories and update on there more than this site. Just saying so in case I may be slower in updating here on Ao3.


	2. Concern

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Yeah, I truly would be as paranoid and freaked out as my Sim if I was in that kind of situation. I always tend to enjoy writing out emotions, and thought processes, by the way.
> 
> POV switch time! The mystery of when in the manga books this story is shall be revealed!

"Thank you." Mari was barely able to keep her voice steady now. She was looking very upset. There was still a very noticeable fear in her eyes, but at least the panicking had stopped.

Honestly, he wouldn't have been sure on what else to do but to let someone sedate the woman. Light still felt bothered at the brief shock in those blue eyes, just before Dr. Suki came into the room. What was that all about? She was calming down, but when he introduced himself... _Maybe it was just her being afraid around Dr. Suki—but she listened and stopped freaking out when I first talked about going to get a doctor, so no that can't be it..._

Light kept holding her hand to reassure and comfort her, since she felt she needed that. _So why did her eyes get so big when I told her my name? She can't_ _ **know me**_ _. We just met. It's weird... Maybe she's just jumpy. I'm sure it's very hard for her to cope. She doesn't seem to remember much. This must be so difficult and confusing for Mari-san right now. It's only normal for someone who doesn't remember getting hurt, and waking up in a foreign country._

_Clearly, something must have happened._

Of course, there was that strange object he had heard drop into the dirt just beside Mari. There was no forgetting about it. _That notebook... It_ _ **has**_ _to be a prank, but why go so far to make up so many spooky rules?_

_But, as extreme and elaborate it may be, I should focus more on Mari-san. She needs serious help, and I can't just **ignore** that... Dad will help too. I know he will._

He used his free hand to retrieve his phone from a pocket on the inside of his uniform coat pocket. He turned it on and started to thumb through his contacts, in which was a long list of family, friends, and the numbers of young women he's kept in there for reasons he couldn't recall right now. He couldn't even begin to think about other women at this time—just the one who was hurt and incapable of helping herself.

The right thing to do was to let his dad know where they were, and explain what had just happened.

As for his teacher, Takinawa-sensei, Light remembered him saying he wasn't going to be able to come down and see to if Mari was all right. That's why Light had volunteered to go in his place, just as Takinawa-sensei had dismissed class five minutes early.

As Light found his father's cell number in his contacts, he couldn't help but ponder over it; if Mari said she wasn't supposed to be in Japan, then why was she here? How did she end up outside his high school knocked out? No one was around her, and the cut on her head looked very recent. He sure didn't hear a noise from any bus on the school grounds. All this, including all the fear she displayed on her face, had him inwardly examining each piece of detail, trying to make sense of what she's said to him and her panicky behavior...

_I would have heard her cry out or a scuffle. I'm always sitting in a desk by that big window...I've gone over this several times, and I **still** don't get it. _

After a few rings, he heard Soichiro Yagami's voice speak to him in Japanese. " _Light? I heard about what happened at school today, on the news. Where are you now?"_

Light glanced to the American woman (he was sure very sure her accent was American) as he replied to him back in their home language. " _I'm with the civilian who got hurt, over at Tokyo Medical University. She woke up...about ten minutes ago, told me her name was Mari, and that she's from the United States. Maryland, to be more specific._

" _I saw a cut on her forehead with a slight bruising, from what I've seen. She might have a concussion, and she cannot remember how she got hurt or ever coming to Japan. She's really needs help, Dad._ "

_"From what you are saying, I'd have to agree. This Mari has a head injury? This could get very complicated."_

_"Right, and because of the amnesia, it may be some time until she can tell us why she's here, and how she got hurt."_

The human brain itself alone was one of the most complex out of all parts of the body, after all.

Light wanted to help her because not only he cared, but he was both very curious and intrigued. He wanted to know what happened to her, _had_ to know. Of course, it was the right thing to do—but in seeing how scared she was had affected him, left an impact. She didn't know what was going on, and had a bit of difficulty to trust both Dr. Suki and himself. _People say and do all sorts of things when scared...but I've never seen anyone as_ _scared_ _as **she is**. _

" _I'll be over with someone to take her statement and yours soon. What room is the girl in,_ " asked Dad.

Dr. Suki was performing a simple test on Mari's vision, to keep both eyes on her finger to see if she just saw one finger moving slowly around her eyes. He was watching her say, "One, one, one, one..." She was also watching him every now and then, probably just trying to listen to him talk on the phone, he assumed.

Light could feel her hand clinging to his. He saw her wince in pain a little as she answered more of Dr. Suki's questions. " _Room 206-B. Second floor. I'm with her right now. She had a bit of a panic attack, and it took some encouragement to earn her trust. Now she's calmed down a bit._ "

"What is last thing you remember before waking up here," Dr. Suki asked Mari.

Mari replied as she only gave Dr. Suki nervous glance. "I was on the end of the street where I live, in Maryland of the U.S. I-I was waiting for the public bus so I could get a ride to work."

His father on the phone said, " _That's very good to know. I'm proud of you Light, for helping her. Could you stay with her a while longer until we get there?_ "

Light heard Dr. Suki ask another question. "Is there anything else you can remember? Do you know what day of the week it is?"

He saw Mari very slightly shaking her head side to side, not really making an effort of the movement. "...It's Wednesday, and I remember waiting for the bus by myself." She looked between Dr. Suki and Light nervously. "It _is_ Wednesday, right?"

"No. It's Sunday."

Mari looked at her, incredulous. " _Sunday_? I've been—I've been out cold for _half a week_?"

Light blinked, and stared at her. _That can't be right! The cut would have healed, at least most of the way by then!_

Dr. Suki placed her hand gently on Mari's arm. "Calm down, please. You need to take it easy."

Mari stared at her, looking shocked. "I'm sorry, but you've _lost_ me there."

_"Light, are you still there?"_

He blinked, realizing he forgot about his father for a moment. " _Yeah, still here. Sorry. I was listening to what Mari-san was telling Dr. Suki, the doctor that helped me. Remember her? It was when I was very sick with the flu..._ "

"Yes _. I remember you couldn't go to school for a week, because of that... What did you hear Mari-san say to Dr. Suki?_ "

"What do you believe today's date is?" Dr. Suki asked Mari. She looked a little worried about her, but held it together for the sake of providing help for her patient.

"September Eleventh."

 _"Dad, I think Mari-san's amnesia is worse than I thought,"_ Light informed his father. _"She doesn't remember the correct date. She thinks today is September eleventh. The wound on her head I saw is much more recent, no less than a_ _ **day old**_ _."_ _This isn't good... It's no wonder why she can't remember being attacked today. Something awful happened._

Light looked again to Mari as he feel her grip on his hand becoming a bit firmer, most likely due to the fear and stress she was experiencing. He more determined and sorry for her than before. _What in the world_ _ **happened**_ _to you, Mari-san? What could have been so bad to make you forget these past two months?_

Dr. Suki looked at Mari in deep sympathy. "It's November twenty-third. September eleventh was two months ago."

Light looked at the more distraught of the two women, who sharply inhaled. "That... no. That can't be right."

"You can't recall anything from this month?" Dr. Suki was very concerned, but she never strayed from being gentle toward her. "Can you at least remember the correct year?"

_"I'll be over with someone soon, Light. Could you stay with the girl a while longer, and help her stay calm?"_

Mari didn't say another word, and looked to Light in desperation, in hopes that he would say that Dr. Suki was wrong.

_"She had just asked me to stay, so that won't be a problem."_

_"Good. I'll be over as soon as I can."_

Light ended the call and wondered if Mari understood his phone conversation in Japanese. It didn't seem like it, for she looked like she didn't have a clue as to what they had talked about.

Dr. Suki eventually gave up about today's date, and asked another question. "Do you hurt anywhere else? Do you feel faint, or dizzy?"

It seemed like she was thinking that over carefully before answering, and she had let go of Light's hand. "No, no, and no."

Dr. Suki noticed how much she was trying to lay still. "Are you in a lot of pain right now?"

Mari had no problems in answering that, but she was still both confused and in distress. "Yes... Whatever had hit me-or maybe there's an accident I've been in. I don't know. My head just feels like it hit against a very, very hard surface."

She frowned deeper. "Do you have the slightest idea as to what might have hit you on the head?"

There was a slight tremble Light heard in Mari's voice. "No. No idea at all." Her eyes lowered, looking away from her, then moved a thick strand of curly brown hair aside. "Light... is your father going to help out in this?"

"He's on his way. There's no need to worry about that, Mari-san," Light told her. He made sure to sound very calm, for it was clear that she was still shaken up a bit.

"Mari-san," Dr. Suki began to inform, "I'm afraid you may have a concussion, and given the amount of pain you're in, you'll have to stay here for the night."

Mari expressed uneasiness in hearing the good doctor's diagnosis. "Th-that means I'll have to stay awake for some hours without sleep."

"Yes. If you do sleep, there's a risk that you may not be able to wake up." Dr. Suki's eyes were very gentle and warm, from the way Light could remember when he first met her.

"I understand... I just wish I knew what happened." For a split second, she glared at them. Was she looking for someone to blame? To Light it seemed that way, but he didn't take it personally. He knew she wasn't mad at either of them, but much more so at the situation she woke up to discover herself in.

"You're not alone in that," Light told her. He believed she needed some words of encouragement. "You'll get through this, Mari-san. As difficult as this is, all you can do now is try to relax and recover. Just as the concussion is only temporary, the memory loss due to any heavy impact should be also be temporary."

At will, he could recall the advanced psychology lessons he learned in relation to the human brain and how it functioned. _The heavy blow and trauma is putting a block on her memories, obviously-but I never thought two months worth of them could be lost. What if some of those earlier memories have been repressed...?_

"That's right. This is only a precaution... I think your head might need to be x-rayed, to see if there are any fractures." Dr. Suki lowered her gaze in thought for a moment, before reestablishing eye contact with her distressed patient. "From a scale of one to ten, ten being the most, how would you rate the amount of pain you're feeling right now?"

Mari was quick to answer that question. She sounded very stressed, and kept looking between her and Light. "A definite ten. Raising my voice...or sudden movement, it triggers pain I can hardly stand."

Light remembered how it had to hurt Mari when she sat up in bed so fast. She was wincing and hissing out a profane word just after. "I think you should help prepare her for an X-ray, Doctor, and do whatever you can to help her feel more comfortable."

Dr. Suki looked at Mari, her dark brown eyes gentle and caring. "I'll return shortly with something to at least help ease the pain."

"I'd appreciate that greatly. Thank you," Mari said to her.

Dr. Suki left soon after that, promising she would be right back. Light remained seated and looked in thought at Mari after she left. As Dad said, it was important to help her stay calm as he possibly could. Asking her anything as to what may have happened would be useless. _But what about the notebook...? No, that might not be a good idea to discuss about it now. It's inappropriate. I might startle her. But, then again..._

He noticed her watching him. Had she wondered what he was thinking? She was hesitant before speaking to him again. The question she had seemed as if she had been reading his mind just now. "Light... Did I have anything I might have been carrying, when you found me? I remember having my purse, my canvas bag, my sturdy-looking lunch container, another phone, from where I was... I just want that concern out of the way, please."

From the bit of a stammer in her voice, Mari was clearly worried about her belongings, yet she was being nice and polite about that. From what Light could observe, he figured she was trying to get a clue as to what may have happened to her. Anyone would have been able to see that though, not just him.

Light listened to her very brief descriptions carefully before replying. "Your purse, your other phone, and headphones are what I held onto for you." He stood up and gestured to show her a small table where he had placed them altogether. "I didn't see anything else, except for a black notebook with strange writing inside." He picked it up, and showed it to her. "Isn't this yours, too? Do you remember having this with you, while waiting for this bus you mentioned?"


	3. The Gears are Turning

It was just as Marianne had dreaded all this time, from the moment Light had called his father up to right here and now. _Oh god, I knew it. He's_ _ **testing me**_ _. Testing to see how much I know about him and the Death Note. He could be lying about the rest of my stuff. Why would he hide onto my lunchbox though? Is he trying to make me starve? Make me as scared and miserable as possible? Yeah, that might make more sense!_

_I don't doubt him looking at the manga book-that is if he really **is** lying about some of my stuff. He could have taken them and hid them somewhere in his room... _

_I know I was waiting for the bus back_ _ **HOME**_ _! Something screwy's going on. He knows I'm not from his reality, right? So what, exactly, is he trying to_ _ **do**_ _? Did he really just happen to find me knocked out at his school, or...?_ She silently swallowed, scared to the core of a rather frightening thought. _Light didn't kidnap me, did he? Somehow? ...No, that can't be possible! In canon, there's just no way for anyone, even for someone as rich as him, to do dimensional travel._

_I haven't given him my whole name though. I'm not going to die. I am_ _**not** _ _completely helpless here, you bastard._

The stress between mixed emotions of fear and determination she felt was causing her head to ache and throb. _Goddamn it, this is torture..._

Marianne in her wariness watched as he sat in the chair again. He looked back at her, puzzled. "I found it on the ground beside you when you were knocked out. Did you drop it? I looked through some of those rules that were written, but you're not in trouble for that. If that's what you're worried about."

 _ **HUH**_ _?! No Kira malice to hide?_ From what she knew in the manga books, there would be deviousness and evil looks he'd express only when he knew no one would see.

If he knew she knew he was the one who wanted to recreate this world of all evil, then _why_ was he still wearing his outer mask?

"I wouldn't know why you would do that, not that it really matters," Light went on, "You getting all the help you need is what we're concerned about."

 _WAIT. I think I know when this is!_ To be absolutely sure, she had to ask. "The lined pages. You didn't write anything on them, did you?"

Light looked back at her strangely. "No, I didn't..." He kept holding out the Death Note to her. At the following question she was asked, it could have been just her being paranoid-yet he sounded suspicious to her, just a little. "So, this _is_ your notebook?"

 _This is the very_ _ **BEGINNING**_ _, of the entire series!_ Marianne breathed out a sigh, as if she had been holding her breath for a long while. "Yeah. It's mine... I remember. It's something for my personal writings," Marianne lied. "The writing on the front and the dark pages is someone else's writing. I don't know who wrote those rules." She could only manage to show him a partial smile. "Obviously, someone wrote all that to freak people out."

_Damn,_ _**that** _ _was lucky! Extremely! This is probably the safest I could ever be from any Kira craziness, because there probably isn't going to_ _**be** _ _any... I totally forgot about the dates being so different. This is probably because I've only been reading the manga the SECOND time all the way through?_

Her mind was racing to figure out what was going on now, even when she knew her stress was causing her headache to gradually worsen. _The Death Note must have been dropped by Ryuk_ _ **today**_ _, and I somehow ended up next to it. Light was feeling so bored when I was next to where the notebook had been dropped..._ That meant Light was still a normal high school senior at Daikoku Private Academy—and he _was_ concerned about her. He _cared_. He actually cared. Now she knew there couldn't be any other explanation, because Light was only trying to figure her out. (He would have taken the opportunity to have her squirm and try to have her bend to his will if he had written in the notebook, no doubt about it.) "I see...but you hadn't written anything on the other pages. I didn't see anything."

Marianne had quickly realized her arrival into this world, right next to the notebook the Ryuk stole from another shinigami—from Sidoh, was it?—had at least delayed Light from taking the Death Note home with him. She already knew what to tell him next as she replied to him. The pressure was on as she felt like she was about to break down. The pain ebbing all around her skull was getting to be too much. "I had just found it. Like, the other day I think..." _I can't believe I'm doing this. Lying and claiming ownership over this thing—but if I_ _ **DON'T**_ _do it, he'll be Kira and it would mean doom for so many people. Including_ _ **me**_ _!_ "I must have been reading through the creepy writing all over again, before the bus came..."

As the throbbing and aching worsened more, she had to stop. The pain was getting to be too much. She could feel her eyes welling up. "I'm sorry. I can't really think much about it right now, because this pain..." _Deep breaths._ _ **Deeeeep**_ _breaths. Ow, why? This sucks so bad..._

Light gave the Death Note to Marianne, who placed it into her lap as she breathed in, then back out. "I understand, Mari-san. Don't push yourself." He certainly did seem apologetic and being considerate of her condition, and she could believe it—because she was absolutely positive that she had at least delayed Light from becoming more interested in the cursed Death Note, and turning into a sociopath, _delayed_ him from being _Kira_.

_L really is alive then, and Misa's not around... Ryuk's up in the shinigami realm, probably looking down at us now._

The stress wasn't dying down anytime soon, as she knew she had think of what to do, and _how the hell_ was she going back to her own parallel world. _One thing at a time, though. One thing at a time._

Marianne tried to suppress her own whimper, but she really couldn't. Even though it was quiet, she was sure that Light could hear it, and she didn't like being so vulnerable and clueless in front of him. It was making her very uncomfortable. "Why does it hurt so much?"

"Dr. Suki should be on her way back here soon. The medicine she'll give should help lessen the pain. At least a little." He paused a moment, considering. "Are you going to call your father now?"

 _I don't believe my phone is capable of multi-dimensional service, let alone multi-_ _ **national**_ _service. I'd be freakin' amazed if I was able to reach Mom or Dad... But with Light in the room, what could I tell them, if I could hear from them? Not everything. Definitely not, because Light would want to know what the hell I'm on about._ It was either that, or he'd get concerned and ask whether or not she was on drugs if she started saying anything about him as a manga character.

It was starting to become harder for her to speak with Light. "I'll try in a little bit. Medicine first... Don't want my dad to worry too much if I sound like I'm in pain." _I'm glad, no,_ _ **relieved**_ _you're not Kira... Thank you for choosing to help me instead._ "For a minute, you helped take my mind off of things, you know. I really needed that distraction." _I really, really did._

Her answer must have made perfect sense to him when he sat back down, because he replied, "I understand... Would you say you are close to your father, as family?" From there, he sounded like a cop.

"We are... When I leave home to go to work, or when I call him when I get there—he tells me to be safe. Mom I feel closer to. We're like...best friends." Marianne heard her voice breaking in a few places as she was responding to his question honestly. She knew that going back home wasn't going to be as easy, no matter how much Light would assure her.

Traveling between worlds, however _that_ was done, wasn't something anyone could do. Even if someone could, it wouldn't be cheap _at all_. _Why is this even happening? If someone could just_ _ **tell me!**_ _Something, anything! I hate this. I hate it..._

Marianne mentally told herself to breathe again, and only that. As she inhaled, she realized her breaths were a bit shaky.

She saw Light moving one hand on top of hers, gently. Marianne could hardly look him in the eye as she felt a fresh new tear slide down her cheek. Light was about to say something comforting to her, maybe ask her another question, but stopped when they heard a group coming by, followed by adult voices speaking in Japanese. She looked past him, who was turning around in the chair to look, to see Dr. Suki returning with two men that Marianne recognized, almost right away.

They both wore dark blue suits, as uniforms she assumed. The man on the left was clearly the older one, for he had some visible wrinkles on his face. The moustache and the glasses he had on were the big giveaway as to who of the NPA this was; Soichiro Yagami, Light's dad, alive and well as the chief on the force.

_He just may live and die of old age, because of me. Come to think of it, I_ _**did** _ _save a lot of lives just now. Light, his dad, L, Watari, Ukita, Rem, Aiber, Wedy, Mello, Matt... Saved Sayu from going into a catatonic state later..._

Under a better circumstance, she would have felt great. She would have smiled and not have felt so insecure, to which was how she felt now.

As Marianne felt another tear slide all the way down her left cheek, she saw Light stand up and turn to face Soichiro Yagami. He bowed his head a little in respect. "I'm glad you could make it here, Dad." He spoke in English for Marianne to hear, so he could indicate to her on who his father was.

The tanned younger NPA member whose hair was styled as an afro had to be Aizawa. He looked from Chief Yagami to her. Through what little sadness she could see in his eyes, she knew he felt bad for her.

Dr. Suki said something to Aizawa in Japanese that caused him to move aside and let her get by him. Her tone of voice was soft and very nice as Aizawa bowed his head a little and muttered out what had to be something like, "Yes, of course. Sorry."

She moved to stand by Marianne in the hospital bed, and handed her a little paper bag. She took it and saw a small sheet of pills, two of them each encased in plastic with most likely a covering to peel back. In Dr. Suki's other hand, she had a medium sized water bottle. "Take two of these," she instructed. "You might have to wait a few minutes or so for them to work."

Marianne opened one packet of pills, easily finding the loose corner of the bottom covering to peel off. Once it was removed, she noticed Dr. Suki handing her a little bottle of water. She gratefully took it to wash the pills down, stopped, then took another sip. Her mouth had started to feel dry, and the water was refreshingly cool. It was just what she needed, for no doubt Mr. Yagami and Aizawa were going to ask her questions very soon.

Aizawa held a pencil and what looked like a big writing pad. _They're going to see if I can give them a written statement._

"Hello Ms. Mari," Mr. Yagami said. "I am Soichiro Yagami, Light's father." He looked to the currently unoccupied chair by the bed. She could see that Light standing close to the wall near them.

"You may sit down if you'd like," she offered him. The polite manners and courtesy rode on her words without much effort put into it. As she was indeed relieved to have these guys coming to her aid, being nice to others was normal for her. By default, there wasn't really a mean side to her at all. She never liked being mean, believing that to be a waste of energy. "Thank you for coming to see me." The smile she gave him felt so weak. She held out her hand as he promptly sat down and shook it.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hurt, and still a little scared to be honest," Marianne answered, trying to keep her sentences as short as possible for now. "Just barely hanging in there."

"That's quite understandable. We're very sorry you're in this circumstance," said Aizawa. He moved the pencil he was holding to the same hand he was using to hold the tablet, before lowering himself to shake her hand. "My name is Shuichi Aizawa."

"Nice to meet you both. Um, if you're here to ask me to give a statement, could that please wait a little bit?" She glanced to Light as she just remembered about him asking about her relationship with her own father. Then she looked back to Mr. Yagami. "I'd like to call my dad in a few minutes, and tell him I'm alive—and what's happening once these pills start working."

That may have come out a little too politely, but she didn't really give it any mind. Cooperation and figuring out **how** she came to be in this world was so important to her. If she could help them help her learn what happened, then perhaps she could try to find a way to get out of this world, this incredibly bad and scary situation. Working her way around with half-truths would probably be necessary at this point, for the sake of her survival.

She had lied and claimed ownership of the Death Note to prevent, or at least _delay_ Light from killing criminals and going crazy. Seriously bad luck that was-but it was either that, or let Light have it. No. _Hell no_ to further emphasize. Marianne had been absolutely positive that she her chances of going back home were slim to none if she hadn't done that spur of the moment decision to be the Death Note owner.


	4. Details

Light noticed Aizawa breathe out as he lowered his head and closed his eyes a moment. Didn't he have a wife and daughter of his own? Surely this had to affect him on some level.

"Yes, it's quite all right," said his father. As calm and professionally as expected from the man Light wanted to be like, he addressed the matter very calmly. "We completely understand what you are going through. My son had said you had gone into a panic, when you came around."

Mari smiled a bit at him, and wiped away a few stray tears. "It's safe to say I wasn't mentally prepared for any of this."

"I don't believe anyone would have been. It must have been quite a shock."

"An overwhelming one," she agreed.

"I'll return again shortly," Dr. Suki announced. "Mari-san, do try to relax." She looked to Dad and Aizawa. "Do take care not to ask her anything that will cause her distress."

"We will. We're only here to help," Aizawa assured, and politely moved to the side to allow the doctor to leave.

Light kept mainly focused on the case that had just opened, hardly looking away from his dad, Aizawa, and Mari. No more than two minutes ago, she explained a bit about that strange notebook she had. She must have forgot about it until Light showed it to her. In seeing her wide-eyed look of surprise, he understood that she recognized it. Why she would keep it as a writing journal he knew wasn't really his business, but it struck him as odd when she had asked if he wrote anything on any of the lined pages. She spoke the question with hesitant caution. Why? Why would she worry about something like that? He couldn't understand, because it just looked like a regular notebook set up as some stupid, elaborate prank to scare people—just as Mari had agreed on.

_If I were her, I'd just be worried about why I'd be so far away from home, and how I got there... Did she think she wrote something private into it, and didn't want me to see? Maybe this is because the amnesia she's experiencing has disoriented her._

_Every page past the rules are blank. Nothing was written, and that's a really strange choice of a notebook to use as a writing journal._

_Although, it's not as concerning on, she doesn't remember coming here from **wherever** it is she lives. Now that she knows the police are here to help, maybe she'll feel better and safer to tell us something._

His dad started to speak, causing Light to look to him directly."Would you be willing to answer some questions right now? You could just say yes or no, if you're too hurt being able to tell us much."

"She did tell Dr. Suki she's in a lot of pain," Light informed. "Making sudden movements and raising her voice seem to trigger the worst of it." Reasonably, he could do everyone in this room the favor of voicing this. His father and Aizawa deserved to know about her current state of health, both mental and physical. He believed Mari wouldn't appreciate it if they started to press her for information either. Light's father he knew was a very reasonable and just man. Aizawa wasn't someone he knew well, but he remembered a time on another case that had taken two months ago. He had been a little aggressive to a very uncooperative guy that was a witness to a murder.

"I think I can say a bit more than yes and no, actually. Just not too much," she said to Dad. Light read her expression as apologetic.

"It's fine," Aizawa told her. He appeared to be calm and understanding. "In knowing that you're having trouble remembering things, we won't hold anything against you. But anything relating to the last thing you can remember might help. The sooner the better."

"Right. Thank you Mr. Aizawa, Mr. Yagami. Your help in this mess means a lot right now..."

His father regarded her calmly. "At any time, if you want, we could stop so you may call your father. Just say the word."

Mari seemed a bit grateful to hear that. She was calm and attentive as she remained sitting up on the mattress, ready to answer their questions.

 _She trusts them. That's very good. It'll save everyone a lot of trouble by not going into another panic attack_ , thought Light as he chose to observe for the moment. He watched as Mari moved her blue eyes to him. They both were a bit pink from the tears that spilled earlier. The smile she gave him looked a bit pained and grateful at once. Light assumed that was her way of telling him a silent "thank you".

 _There's no need to thank me. I just want to see this through, and make sure your kidnapper is brought to justice. No person ever deserves to go through this! Whoever could have done this to you—I'll see to it that he is found and locked away. He can be sentenced to death, even. Who would miss **scum**_ like that anyway?

Light scowled slightly in disdain. This world was a cold, cruel, and unjust place. People all over did horrible things to each other. Right now, someone was either looking for Mari, or maybe he believed she had died. It was hard to say, because so far Mari had said nothing about whoever had been so brutal towards her. _Well, maybe she'll start remembering things about him now._

"What is your full name?" asked Dad.

"Mari Markham. That's M-A-R-I, then M-A-R-K, H-A-M." She looked to the younger of the two NPA officers. "If you'd like to write that down, Mr. Aizawa..." There was no sarcasm behind the statement. She didn't look as upset or scared; only calm and polite.

Aizawa glanced down to the notepad, and wrote something onto it. Light remembered this NPA officer briefly mentioning to him once about family. There was a little fondness to his words about his wife and five year old daughter. As focused as Aizawa was, Light predicted that concealed beneath the display of detective work and a serious expression had to be a _little_ discomfort about her waking up and being so far from home. In spite of the way he styled his hair to be a big afro (something adolescent about that), and how much of a family man he was deep down inside, he could see why his father trusted Aizawa to come here and help them with this case.

_Mari-san's definitely acting different now. Much less coarse in her words. Maybe because she thinks it's rude to speak that way towards to the police...?_

His father asked, "And how old are you?"

"Twenty-nine."

The soft sound of pencil on paper was heard in the background as Aizawa wrote down another note.

Light had already assumed her age to be in her late teens to twenties when he first saw her unconscious, but it was nice to know her age exactly if the case may be the need to do any profiling on a sexual predator, or a sociopath. He didn't like to think or believe it was, but he had to keep an open mind about it. Keeping her safe was important, after all.

"Does your father not know where you are," asked Aizawa. "Is that why you feel the need to contact him?"

"Yes. If I wasn't here, I'd be back in the States. At work. When I arrive at work, I usually give him a call to let him know I arrived safely. It's become a routine for the both of us."

"Are you sure? I heard you can't remember anything from the past two months. Do you remember coming to Japan at all then?"

Mari's reply came quick, calm, and very certain. "I don't have any reason to be here. My mom's often too busy with her two jobs..." She winced a little in pain before continuing. "The three of us haven't gone on any vacations outside the U.S." She looked between Aizawa and Light's father seriously. "I have my own part-time business too, and I work mostly all year long."

"Are you trying to say you came here against your will?" Dad offered to suggest.

"Yes."

Light briefly over what she was wearing again, and pondered just how responsible and professional Mari was being self employed. She had a green t-shirt on of a village tribesman in meditation. She wore no socks and shoes; only black and pink flip flops. He didn't know the slightest on what the weather in Maryland was, but he knew it was a bit cold out in Tokyo today.

In what he had seen in her injuries, they were very recent. It looked like she was attacked not too long ago. The blood on her forehead was wet and leaking from the cut, now covered in a bandage. Light could speculate and understand on how she wouldn't remember the attack itself. How much time had been forgotten didn't make sense though—that was just one detail of a few he _couldn't_ understand.

"If that is the case, do you remember anyone forcing you onto a plane, or boat?"

"I don't remember anything about leaving my family's home to come this far," Mari attempted to explain. "If someone threatened me to go with them, I have no idea about who that might be." She frowned. "And that's frustrating."

"Are you telling us the truth?" Aizawa sounded fairly skeptical about that.

"Yes. I honestly don't know what happened to me. I was really freaking out. Light-san, you know what happened."

She glanced to him. Looking her in the eyes, he didn't notice her lying, or trying to hide something from them. _Her statement so far and how I found her aren't matching up. The United States is located on the far side of the world. It would take at least a few hours by plane, and a little more time to proceed through customs._ Light knew he didn't know a lot about how airport security worked, but wouldn't such people notice anything about a brute forcing Mari to board a scheduled flight? Perhaps he had done it before, and had gotten away-but not this time, not while he intended to find out what had happened to this woman.

_Traveling through water would take longer, wouldn't it?_

Aizawa glanced to Light. "You told your father that Mari-san here thought today was September Eleventh."

Light nodded. "She was shocked to know the date." He glanced to the witness, regarding how distraught she had been. "It's hard to believe she's lost so much memory, I know. It doesn't make any sense, but I think she's telling the truth." He didn't look away from Mari as he regarded her with much analyzing. His own deductive instincts were hardly wrong when it came to reading people.

There obviously weren't any signs of bad intentions. No; Mari was willing to do anything to know what happened, and to get back to her family—as soon as possible.

"I am telling the truth," Mari said. In hearing her voice and looking at her straight in the eyes, she seemed to be straining a little to remain calm. She was tensing up a little.

"I realize you are," Dad said. His voice came out leveled and calm.

"I get that it's not making any sense," Mari reasoned, and looked from him to Aizawa. "I really do. To me, it's like this. One minute ago I was just standing on the street corner near my house. Then the next, I'm here. In between is this... _gap_. I'm about as confused as the rest of you. My mind..." She breathed out. "I'm having trouble understanding this too." Her hand raised to touch the bandaged area on her forehead. "Two freakin' months of memory gone. Crazy..."

"This means you don't have any recollection of getting hurt at all," Aizawa assessed.

Light stated his assessment about her injuries. "The long clean cut I saw on her forehead; it's very recent. Whoever did it must have attempted to send her a message."

"I got _cut_ on the _forehead_?" Light saw Mari beginning to look a little alarmed. Her hand remained on her covered forehead to gently feel for it.

"You weren't losing a lot of blood," he assured her. He kept calm, too. Perhaps if he remained calm about that, she would start to calm down? It worked _before_ , when she first woke up. _Please don't go freaking out again. Please don't. None of us want that._ "It's not a very deep cut."

Mari swallowed, and became silent. Her gaze at all three men became less steady.

"Could you tell us about what you do remember?" Light proceeded to ask her the next question. Since she had been upset about waking up in a place she didn't recognize, he figured it might be better to try to ask about what she knew, maybe to help lessen the stress she must have been feeling. He remembered Mari elaborating to Dr. Suki on bad her headache was. _She won't be up to answering anymore questions or call her father if she feels too hurt to do anything._

"You say the last thing you remembered was waiting for a bus while standing on the street where you lived, on September Eleventh. Correct?"

"Yeah." Her eyes moved to focus on him.

His father and Aizawa looked to him, attentively. Aizawa was already taking more notes as Light continued, indicating to the small table he turned and moved to. "Mari-san has told me some of her belongings are missing; her lunchbox, and canvas bag."

"They're probably back where I once was," Mari assumed.

"Canvas bag?" Aizawa questioned.

"It's a bag made of fabric. It's not really a tote bag, but it's just as endurable," she described, and then paused as Aizawa was writing. Once she gathered her thoughts, she continued. "It's mostly white, with one strap. There's a green eagle on the front. I have CDs, a folder..." Mari, to Light, seemed to be hesitating a little as her speech drifted for a moment. "A manga book, and my blue money pouch are also inside it."

_Why did she pause there...? She could have been focusing to remember, but that's not it. Maybe she doesn't want to list every item in there._

_No, that doesn't seem right either_ , his inner practical voice countered. _What was she thinking for that second? She did seem a little nervous about something. Why? We're only trying to help her._

The more he was around this woman, the more he realized she wasn't always easy to figure out. There was something she wasn't saying, he felt sure of it. He didn't know what she was thinking then, and he _knew_ there was something she wasn't saying about that notebook of hers, but then again she might have really felt stressed and in pain _._

"All right," came Aizawa's calm reply. "And your lunch box? What does that look like?"

"It's one of those big, sturdy plastic ones that can help keep food stay cool for a while. The kind that construction workers would typically bring. It's mostly blue and white, with an orange button on the side to press in order to open it from the top."

Mari didn't seem bothered by her headache for that moment, and there was no hesitance at all during that description. Perhaps that just wasn't as valuable to her as all those things in her cloth bag seemed to be.

 _Ask her later, when she's calmer and feeling better._ There was no clear way of knowing what it was she could be hiding. Regarding his father and Aizawa, Light wondered if they believed there were things she was choosing to omit.

His father leaned forward a bit in the chair by the hospital bed. "What, may I ask, is your occupation? Is it a particularly dangerous one?"

 _Does Dad believe she's hiding something_ , Light wondered.

"No, not at all. I have my own used bookstore. I also sell flowers and strawberry plants, and garden statues too."

"Your business is just one location?"

"It's the one and only location. I run it all by myself."

Light raised his eyebrows slightly, unable to _not_ feel a bit impressed at that. From the confidence in her words, it seemed that she was a very responsible person then. However, he was primarily focused on what happened to Mari. If she hadn't been attacked, she mentioned, then she would have been at work after getting off the public bus. "Has there ever been anyone you met that threatened you or your business, in any way?"

"No. Never, and I'm very positive about that," Mari said to him. In his observation, she did indeed appear to be certain on that answer. "I've never met anyone dangerous over there."

Aizawa looked up from his notepad at her a moment, wearing a serious and concerned expression. "What about your family? Do any of you have any enemies, or anyone who may hurt you, or them?"

Mari's seemed to be shaking her head with little movement as possible. "Not at all. We don't really know anyone in our life who would. Even so, my dad is a well respected man of the community we live in, and anyone bad who'd want to get at us for some reason would already be in jail. The same for my mom. And none of us have caused any trouble."

Dad lowered his head in thought. "So it can't be anyone you would know."

"Definitely not."

Light continued to listen, and studied her expressions. _Could it be a neighbor or anyone she may have noticed who approached, and **brutally attacked** her like that?_ He felt a twinge of disgust at that. _Would a neighbor have forced her to come to this country? Perhaps her captor had been watching her for some time before making his move._ "How would you describe the neighborhood you live in? What are the people like on this street corner you stand on?"

For a moment, Mari just looked at him. He thought he detected a guarded look in her blue eyes a second as she answered this very calmly. "The neighbors who live closest to the street are nice and don't bother us. The neighborhood itself is a normal suburbia, and there's hardly any crime going on over there. This is out in the country... I know this guy who works as a landscaper and his wife in a house diagonally across from my home are very nice. This man, I can never remember his name, he's given me a ride to work a few times, and his wife had donated some boxes of books to me some weeks ago."

Light felt confused and bothered about that look. _Why did she look at me like that...? Is she suspicious of me? For what?_

There it was again-something in her behavior he couldn't understand. He remembered once more on how scared she seemed to be, after he told her his name, and he hadn't harmed her in any way. _Mari-san **trusts** me, doesn't she? It looks like it, but there's something about her that's just... **off**. Her lost memories, the fear I saw in her eyes before I called Dad, her hesitations... _

_She's calm and cooperative towards Aizawa and my father... but I somehow cause her discomfort? That doesn't make any sense._

"What about the neighbors who live farther away from you?" Dad asked her.

"I don't really know them, but they haven't bothered us over anything... I heard that some of them are into drugs, but my family and I never get involved with those people. They leave us alone, and we leave them alone."

Light made sure to take care and ask her the following carefully. He didn't want to startle her. "Are you _sure_ there isn't anything suspicious about where you live?"

Dad turned his head and looked at him, curious. "You have doubts about what she says, Light?"

"It's hard to say... There's something we need to be sure about," he replied to him, then looked back at Mari. He softened his voice, to make sure he didn't sound forceful. "You have to really think about this, Mari-san. Whether it's a neighbor or a stranger, can you remember anyone approaching you? Did you notice anything suspicious at all?"

"I was by myself... I'm very sure I was, but I..." Mari stopped, nervously lowered her gaze, and collected herself. "I don't remember seeing the bus arrive... I don't remember seeing _anyone_ coming at me."

 _So, what? She was attacked by ninjas, or something?_ Light remembered from watching black and white movies at seven years old about how swiftly and silently ninjas were in their approach towards an opponent. In curious self interest sometime a year later, Light looked into that further. The fictional depictions of these dark clothed assassins he watched weren't far off from fact. Also, there were good ninja clans too; not only bad ones.

Light soon ruled out ninjas. For one thing, he couldn't figure out why they would go after a woman that sold books, garden statues, and plants for a living. Whether or not she had might have come across something of value to them, Light knew better than to hang onto that assumption. It just didn't fit with the way she had been abandoned. Assassins of stealth and shadow weren't likely to leave any evidence out _in public, and in broad daylight_.

_Her attacker can't be anything like that at all. He wouldn't have chosen to attack her in front of my school. Whoever he is, he's not an expert at stealth._

_She could have been beaten unconscious_ , offered his practical side. _Maybe he **didn't** want to kill her. Whatever kind of message through harsh violence he wanted to send Mari-san, it had been delivered a bit **too** harshly for her to recieve._

He soon found his gaze trailing back to Mari, who didn't know anything as to who would want to harm her. _Whoever it is, he's clearly a coward_ , Light soon concluded. Such people who beat up defenseless, harmless people like her set him on edge. He strongly believed them to disgusting, selfish, and cowardly. Whether or not this was out of rape, that didn't make such men any less disgusting and cowardly.

As Light wanted to help bring justice to the violent bastard, the oddities and mystery of how Mari showed in Japan so terribly beaten was proving a truly challenging part to this case. Rather quickly, he understood this wasn't a typical sort of brutal assault.


	5. I Do What I Have to Do

_Someone had tried to kill me. So freaking scary._

_Focus. I need to **focus** here. I should be careful of what I tell them. I can help them help me, I really _ _**need** _ _that, but to a certain extent... I can't have Light go crazy around me, no matter what. This is crazy enough as it is... and Light's hardly taken his eyes on me._

Aizawa and his dad were just cops trying to do their job. Light, however, was someone much smarter. He could read people. Marianne knew this, and having the Death Note in her lap in this room most certainly _didn't_ ease her troubles.

It's already been too late to change things back the way they were, or rather would've been. The Death Note and Marianne have arrived at the same place, that much she got from what Light had said, so it would be worthless to deny that fact, especially since he was _still standing there_. _Watchful._

_Arrgh, my mind is completely blank! Who, or WHAT, could have attacked me and brought be here? There must have been an attack, or_ _**something** _ _! I know I'm not here of my own free will, so what the hell_ _**happened** _ _?!_

It was very unsettling and scary for her, not being able to remember things. It put her on edge as she maintained somewhat of a grip over the restless paranoia inside of her.

She looked at all three men, almost pleadingly and very honestly about this. "Again, I really don't remember."

"If the attacker had been there with you at the bus stop, he may have moved too fast for you or anyone else to notice," Aizawa speculated. He looked like he was thinking hard about that theory. "Maybe that's why you can't remember."

"If there was someone running at me, intending to hurt me, I would have _heard it_ ," Marianne assured him. She was very sure and _firm_ about this. "I would have ran, and someone would have noticed I was in trouble."

"But you had your headphones on, right? So you couldn't have heard anyone coming." She looked to Light, for he was the one who brought that up. "When I first saw you, you were wearing them. Were you listening to something on your red phone? I didn't hear any music playing though."

She said nothing for a second to realize, _Oh yeah... I_ _ **was**_ _listening to music._ Whenever she listened to songs on the headphones, she liked to play them loud."Right. I _did_ have my headphones on-but if someone had grabbed me, I would have fought back. Or called out for help." The shrug she did felt like a jerky movement. "The problem is I don't remember anything out of the ordinary. Maybe I turned the music off to check, but I _don't remember_ doing it." It wasn't easy in staying calm. She was trying to not let their questions really bother her, in order to keep her fears, stress, and head pain at bay.

"Ms. Markham," Mr. Yagami addressed her. He appeared to be very calm, and level-headed. Concern was definitely evident in his voice, whose English was on the same level of fluency as Light's. "Believe me when I say this; we're not trying to upset you. We are only looking at the different angles here, and giving you a chance to jog your memory."

She paused to breathe outwardly a moment. "I do believe you. Or, at least I'm trying to... And you may just call me Mari. I won't mind." _Because you and Aizawa are very nice and caring people, now that I know you're both_ _ **real**_ _. You're both respectable cops, and I'm doing you a huge favor, Mr. Yagami, for both you and Light. The same thing for the rest of your family... I just can't talk about everything, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..._

Marianne really did feel guilty in not saying everything she knew about them, about the Death Note, and that she came from another Earth. She knew this wasn't going to be fun at all as she believed that it was best to not fully reveal her identity, or not say anything about the manga, anime, or live-action movies in which she hadn't seen yet... The risk wouldn't be something for her to believe in surviving through.

At all costs, she'd want to avoid **_dying_**. She couldn't even let herself think about the nasty ways of dying she knew from what was no longer just a fandom. As long as she kept anyone from using this original Death Note Ryuk stole, just _laying there_ in her lap for all to see, she wouldn't be killed by it, right?

Mr. Yagami steadily kept eye contact with her. "I must ask; what do you believe the chances are of something happening on the bus?"

Marianne could feel her eyes widening, and her hands trembling a little right then. She gripped one hand around the water bottle she was still holding, as she clutched the covers with the other to stop the trembling. _Shit—I never thought about THAT!_ "N-Not likely. As I said, my neighborhood isn't dangerous... I don't remember getting on the bus." She breathed in slow and deep with her mouth as her breathing was sharp, and a bit shaky. "I can't recall anything about the bus ever coming."

_Did I get on the bus? Was I attacked_ _**then** _ _?!_

_No. By then, I would've brought all my stuff up..._

She could feel her eyes narrowing as she voiced out her thoughts on this. "I'm very sure I couldn't have gone on the bus. I would have carried everything I brought with me outside my family's place, pay a dollar fifty for the bus fare, then pick up my things and take a seat."

She noticed how a bit fast paced and stressed she sounded, then fell quiet. A smaller wave of pain was on the rise, but she didn't let that bother her. _I'm so glad I wasn't in a bus accident. But still, none of us know what cut me, and why the pain was so bad earlier... I'm so uneasy inside. Probably because I **can't friggin' remember** in between waking up in this world, and before getting on the bus. _

_If this was all really a dream, it wouldn't have gone on to something like **this**. I don't have dreams like this. _

Mr. Yagami placed his hand atop one of hers that still clutched at the bed sheets. When she looked towards him, to her it felt like she could feel the calm energy he was emitting. His words were very calm, and his hand felt very warm. "You're doing well, Mari. The input you gave us will surely help."

"Yeah, I'm sure it should..." She felt a little wary and a teeny bit on edge while looking to each of them. Aizawa must have been writing down what she said into notes, for he looked very focused. Mr. Yagami and his son were both looking back.

Then Aizawa noticed her glance at him, and curtly nodded, his response in the only language Marianne could speak being heard clearly enough. "In time, you'll remember more, so we could catch the person responsible for this."

 _I really hope so, Aizawa. If this IS a person, with some machine or whatever to travel from one world to another, then I'm sure as hell going to give him a piece of_ _ **my mind**_ _..._ She felt sad as she tried to show him a very grateful smile. Of course, he wasn't related to the Yagami family, but she felt just as bad for feeling unable to be fully honest with him. She knew she needed their help to know what happened—but there was still a chance that Light might go insane with the Death Note if she ever came clean about it, so no. This, in her rationalizing, could not, _would not_ happen.

Light had gone quiet. He seemed to be observing for the moment. As she looked to him when thinking of that seriously and possibly life-threatening risk, she saw that he had his head and eyes lowered as he brought a hand up to his chin, in thought. Then, he finally said something."The missing items you described... They must be where you said they are. Unless you were carrying anything valuable in your 'canvas bag' as you call it. Something somebody would want to _steal_..." He drifted off from his deducting and reasoning. "Mari-san. Would you like to stop for now, and call your father?"

Marianne felt like she could elaborate on his reasoning, and suppressed her guilt back again as she talked. "Yes, but I'll answer to what you just asked first... There _is_ the pouch with the dollar change that's for my bookstore—but if someone wanted to mug me, then they wouldn't have picked that time of day when I'm standing there. The landscaper guy and his wife I mentioned; they would have seen someone coming."

"So, where you stand is out in the open. That makes sense, since the bus is obviously a public one. Anyone with American cash and change can ride it, I suppose," Aizawa concluded, before jotting down more notes.

In feeling a bit better from that _awful_ headache, Marianne found she was able to slightly nod to that. "Right. Because once, I slipped a coin into the change box without knowing it was Canadian. It was the same size as a U.S. quarter, but the machine wouldn't accept it."

Light sounded like he was feeling a bit good and confident over what had just been discussed. "I think we're off to a good start here."

Her smile felt tiny. "Yeah. It's a relief to be able to remember _something_."

"I'm sure it is," said his father. He patted the back of her hand lightly. Seeing a bit of kindness coming from him made her heart ache _more_. "Go ahead and call your father, Mari. If he could talk with us, then perhaps he'll provide some incentive as to what may have happened."

The three of them sounded supportive. Marianne could tell they aimed to not quit and do all they could to help her, and solve a case that was no doubt right before them. In realizing that, she began to feel yet another wave of guilt. As she kept that to herself however, sealing it away tightly, she knew what had to happen next. She'd have to hide the fact that she wouldn't be able to contact her family, most certainly not with a cheap pre-paid cell phone. She knew this very well, as she _let_ Light, Mr. Yagami, and Aizawa believe someone might have ambushed her and dragged her across their world against her own will.

That might actually be _part_ of the truth, Marianne considered, but there was no way to be sure on that. All she was going to do was go with what they said, and keep telling them half or partial truths. She knew she didn't want to lie to them. _So, tell them a lie when you absolutely have to,_ she convinced herself. What she told them so far, about her most recent memories just before not knowing anything as to how she crossed worlds, she was sure that was believable. Surely, the guys had no choice but to go with what she told them.

Marianne, in her heart, still felt terrible as she lit up the screen of her black phone. At that point, her mind was racing so fast to figure stuff out. _There's really no other way, is there? I can only be so truthful! I can't a hundred percent trust_ _ **anyone**_ _in this room! If Light finds out about what I'm hiding, through his family or anyone... No, just no. I can't. I'm not dying by his hand, or anyone else's! I just..._

 _It's necessary. I_ _ **have**_ _to do this_ , came the grim and paranoid thoughts as she brought up the Menu to go to her contacts.

If not Light or any of what would have been most of the task force against the warped justice of Kira, then _who_ could she ever reveal everything to?

 _ **L**_ _. Him, and Watari most preferably. Maybe Near too, but Mello..._ In knowing the crazy risks Mello took, from what she read in the manga to try to have the upper hand over Near—she wasn't so sure it would be a good idea to rely on either of L's successors for help. No, Marianne wouldn't want to be in the middle of _any_ of that. She might get hurt if Mello decided to drag her off to somewhere dangerous. It was like she could already tell what would happen if she kept that option open.

She'd have to get in touch with L and Watari. She told herself this. Mr. Yagami, from what she guessed, probably wouldn't have heard of L at this time, along with the difficult cases he's solved. Maybe that NPA director guy did. (Or did they both know?) Damn, she couldn't remember what his name was-not that she could really blame herself, for in her own world he's been one of the most minor characters in the fandom. He was never exactly a lovable or very memorable character to begin with.

Marianne was absolutely positive that she would be _safe_ while being entirely honest to L and Watari. In thinking about them, she couldn't see herself being in any danger. _And if I show him the Death Note, and tell him about it as_ _ **proof**_ _, in addition to what I know about him._ _ **Alone**_ _._

_I just have to mention L SOON, and find out if the director knows about him. Yeah. Just worry about that first. One thing at a time._

This meant _constant_ omitting and manipulating parts of the truth along the way, for the sake of protecting herself and not letting anyone use the Death Note to kill anybody. In a way, she might have been doing this entire world a huge favor, but she wasn't really going about it like that. In her heart, she knew that subtly deceiving these people, somewhat, was _wrong_ , but she didn't know what else to _do_. There was nothing else coming to mind for the sole purpose of avoiding any outcome of Light becoming Kira _**and**_ putting a target on her back!

Light was smart, and _a lot nicer_ without writing any names down into the notebook, but if he took it without her knowing... If he ever found out it had such dangerous power...

Within this minute long time-frame, she immediately stopped thinking about all that, to avoid any scary imagery to process through her mind. She also stopped pressing a button on her phone to look to her allies in this mess. _I don't really want to waste their time._ Giving them as much of a wild goose chase on the investigation around her as possible wouldn't be right, not if that could be evaded. She didn't believe that was really necessary. _Even if I screw up... I know I can't, but if that_ _ **does**_ _happen—_

 _ **Stop it**_ , she snapped at herself, and gave all those worries a mental shove to the back of her mind. The pressure she felt was so intense, but she knew better than to dwell in going over any consequences—not with everyone _here and now_ , watching her.

"I-I just remembered. My black phone..." She picked up her pre-paid mobile phone, the one other thing that was in her lap apart from the Death Note, and held it up in her palm. "It's limited. I haven't been buying any cards that allow international service." She sighed and knew it was safe to admit _that much_. "So, could I borrow somebody else's phone? Please?"


	6. Tenfold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who might be interested, I found some songs that fit well to the story as a soundtrack that's coming together. Here's what I have so far. 
> 
> \- "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace
> 
> \- "Worlds Divide" by Flaw (This is the main theme of the entire story, seriously.)
> 
> \- "What I Have to Do" by Flaw (Parts of this song were an inspiration for the previous chapter, including the title.)
> 
> \- "The Grim Goodbye" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (The words are fairly accurate to the paranoia Sim is feeling.)
> 
> \- "Never Surrender" by Skillet (Another good emotional song for her--so fitting!)

What she asked had confused them. "Why not use your other phone? If that black one you say is limited, then would your red one work better?" Light asked Mari.

"I'm not sure it works that way," Aizawa said.

"The red phone is just something I treat like an iPod, because there's a memory card in it, and the cheaper one doesn't have one. It's an old phone that had been deactivated for about two years now," she explained. "Verizon Wireless had been charging too much, so we switched to pre-paid. Neither of us never had a reason to call anybody from other countries though."

Dad looked to him. "Light, your phone is unlimited to anywhere, isn't it? As you know, I only use mine for work, or contacting any of us."

He already had his own phone out, and handed it to her after bringing up the menu screen as he mentioned it. "Here."

Mari took it, and hesitantly showed him a small smile of grattitude. Well, he felt certain that was grattitude. "Thank you, Light-san. Really, I owe you a lot..." Her voice cracked a bit as she said the last word of that sentence. Her eyes lowered as she seemed troubled to him. "You saved me from _who knows what_. You've done so much for me, and that includes calling your dad and Mr. Aizawa. I don't know much on what I could do for you, _any_ of you. In return, I mean."

Despite those few moments of strange behavior he couldn't quite understand-no. Mari was only scared and confused. That _had_ to be it. Why had he been over-thinking it earlier? She only wanted so badly to know what was going on, and she was probably just trying as hard as she could to figure out if anyone in this room was to blame.

In recalling all her problems and worries, deep down he felt his heart aching for her _again_ as he lowered himself to her eye level. "Don't worry about it. It's okay. I believe you'd the same thing for us, so it doesn't matter whether you pay us back or not." _Because you worry about people, especially about those you love. You're a very caring person. A_ _ **good-hearted**_ _person. There should be more people out there like you, in this crazy mess of a world. It would be a better place..._

He would go over what he couldn't understand about what happened at school with his father and Aizawa once they were leaving. There was just _no way_ she could heal if she kept feeling constantly stressed out or freaking out, and he felt it was immoral to not let her have at least _some_ peace of mind.

Mari slightly nodded, and kept her eyes on the phones she held in both hands. Light placed a calming and comforting hand on her shoulder, and said, "We shouldn't keep your family worrying too much longer, right? Just dial in the number you want to call, then press here." He pointed to where the Send button was, unsure if she could understand kanji.

"Okay," she replied, and started to press in ten digits, starting with four-one-zero. "Is everyone in your family so nice, Light-san and Mr. Yagami? I'm only wondering, because my parents do what they can to help those in need too..."

"My wife Sachiko has taken in the less fortunate into our home more than once," Dad explained, "Sayu, my daughter and Light's younger sister, is a sweet young girl..."

"I'm sure she is. How about you, Mr. Aizawa?"

Light glanced to who she addressed as he moved to stand by the edge of the bed. "My little girl is the most adorable person you'd ever meet, and my wife, Saya..." Aizawa closed his eyes a moment and clenched his fists as he added, "I know she'd cry if she ever saw you, like this."

Everyone eventually became silent in the room, and that was when Dr. Suki had returned. "How are you feeling Mari-sa...? Oh, excuse me," she apologized, and lowered her voice a bit. "Is she trying to reach her loved ones now?"

"Yes, she's calling her mother or father," Dad answered.

It was about a minute later when there was a female voice speaking. Light was close enough to hear what was said. "We're sorry. The number you are trying to reach not available."

Mari breathed out a sigh. "Okay, I'll try this again."

"What happened?" Aizawa asked. Serious concern was all over his expression.

"Operator voice." She then mimicked a bit of what she and Light heard before dialing in the same number again.

"We're sorry. The number you are trying to reach is not available."

"It's got to be Verizon. Not the Wireless, just plain _Verizon_..." There was no mistaking the irritation coming into her voice. "Mom must be a bit behind on the home phone bill again. They turn the phone, sometimes a bit before the due date, until we're able to pay them. Douchebags."

"Oh no, that's no good," they heard Dr. Suki say.

Light's father asked, "Is there another number to reach them?"

"There's my mom's cell phone number. It _should_ be available," she told him, as she looked at her phone to carefully dial that number from hers, where it had read "Linda Markham", into Light's phone.

Again, Light was close enough to hear the line ringing...only to hear a similar automated female voice reply, "The number you have dialed is not in service."

_What?!_

" _Damn it_. This just isn't my day, is it? Mom's phone ran out of days? _Seriously_? Straight Talk's most basic card is just thirty bucks a month! Unless she's getting that new card right now..."

Dad suggested, "Light, put the phone on speaker for us. Mari, try dialing again."

"Okay." Light pressed a small button on the side of it a moment, before letting Mari try her mother's cell phone again.

As the same message repeated itself, Mari lowered the phones and laid her head down on the pillows, depressed. "This sucks..."

"Maybe it's as you say, Mari-san," assured Aizawa. "We could wait a few minutes, then try reaching your mom again. She's probably paying for a new pre-paid card right now."

She nodded a bit, the same look on her face. "Yeah... Okay."

Light noticed Dad leaning forward a bit in his seat. "Are there financial problems in your family, Mari? Do either of your parents have jobs?"

"Mom has both a full time _and_ part time job in helping those who are disabled. Dad's retired, too old and not physically fit to work anywhere. Mom and I altogether have been working hard..."

Light's brows furrowed. "Your father's sick?"

Mari glanced to him, and didn't seem to have any trouble talking about that. She explained, "He's in his sixties, diabetic, and his vision isn't doing so good... That, and he has a bad leg."

"That's _awful_ ," Dr. Suki said. Light had a feeling she'd be shocked to hear that. "I'm so sorry, Mari-san. That poor man... What happened to his leg?"

"There was a fracture near his foot, and it never fully healed right. He doesn't move around much, but he's managing. He still helps people stay sober from alcoholism, the same as he had been when he was healthier. There are people he knows who can give him a ride over to meetings."

Aizawa took a moment to clear his throat before commenting, "Your parents must be wonderful people."

 _Took the words right out of my mouth, Aizawa..._ Light was starting to feel a bit sorrier for Mari, reasonably. She certainly wasn't kidding about her family being similar to his. This knowledge fueled his resolve further to help her.

Dad seemed to feel the exact same way. "Are there any other family members we could get a hold of?"

"Through the phone, no. There are family friends in my contacts. Some relatives I know are on Facebook."

"There's a laptop in my office," Aizawa was quick to offer, his resolve just as strong. "I could go over there, _get it_ , and come back."

Light nodded to him in approval. "Good idea, Aizawa. While he does that, we could try and get ahold of her mother, or one of these close friends."

"Yes, let's do that," his father replied. "Hopefully, before this day is over, we can reach someone, and find some more answers. This really shouldn't become more complicated than it already is."

Mari's voice went a bit quiet as she said, "Best of luck to everybody."

Light looked back to her. _She looks so depressed..._ "Don't give up now, Mari-san. There has to be _someone_ out there you know in Maryland we can reach."

A pained sort of smile came to her face. "Yeah..."

"I'll be back soon," Aizawa said to everyone else. He then walked out the door as he did.

"I suppose this could be a right time to say that there is a room open for Mari-san to have her x-ray." Dr. Suki looked to Mari as she said this. "We could go right now, while they're trying to call someone."

She was hesitant for a second, until she handed both her own phone and Light's phone to him. "Yeah, better get that out of the way."

Light set the phones aside on the bed, and started to help her a little, just enough to ease her to a sitting up right position for a moment. His father stood up, moved the chair away, and asked, "Do you need a wheelchair, or would you like to try standing?"

She made steady eye contact with Light, who was closest to her, for the first time in a short while. "I think I'll try to stand." She placed her water bottle and notebook on the other side of the bed.

Light nodded. "Okay. Ready?"

"Yep." She seemed confident about this.

Promptly, Light stood up straight, taking both her hands in his. He held onto them firmly as he slowly stepped back to make room for her to stand. Without any trouble, she took her time to slide and plant both bare feet flat on the hard smooth floor. "My flip flops...?"

"They're on the table with the rest of your stuff." He looked at her a bit strangely, very well remembering that she wore those dark flip flops when he found her. She still wore blue jeans and a green t-shirt with an illustration of a person, sitting in a crossed-legged position as he meditated. "Is it warmer there, over in Maryland?" Honestly, he couldn't be sure about that. He hadn't been to that part of America before. So long ago, one summer, Light and his family went to visit some friends in the Bronx of New York-and that was the only state he'd been to in the northeastern United States. He knew the weather there, when he with his parents (sometime before Sayu was born) on a holiday, it was so cold. Light remembered wearing layers of clothes whenever he played outside with the other kids in the snow...

"Well, over at where I live, _southern_ Maryland, sometimes it feels like a tropical climate when it really isn't. Sometimes it feels very nice for a long while in the fall, or doesn't get very cold in the winter... It's weird."

"I see." Light kept holding her hands as he stood firmly on the floor. Mari didn't seem to have any trouble lifting her weight off the hospital bed's mattress, and she took her time. "Before leaving, you might want a longer sleeve, shoes, and socks to wear. It's not very cold out now, but it's supposed to be later this week."

"No dizziness, right?" Dr. Suki asked to make sure.

"No. I think I'm okay to walk," replied Mari. To Light, she indeed was standing just fine, no wobbling at all. No one in the room had to worry about her falling over. Dad handed Mari her flip flops as Light let her go, but didn't move _in case_ she was in danger of falling. Thankfully, she remained steady on her feet as she sat back down to slip her feet in the flip flops. "Thanks."

"Okay, Mari-san. Follow me please," Dr. Suki instructed.

"We'll be here when you get back, Mari," Dad said.

"I'll be going through your contacts for you," Light said, and turned to pick up both cell phones. "I assume each person in your contacts can be trusted? Is there anyone we shouldn't call?"

"Don't call the Celty Sturluson number," Mari said. "She's not really a friend of the family. She's just a very long distance friend I know. Also, you don't need to call the business numbers, of course. Those are just stores and places to order something to eat."

"Understood," replied his father.

"See you later."

"See you, Mari-san," Light said, and watched her follow Dr. Suki out the door. "I'll try to call your mom again first."

She wore a small smile, and waved to both of them as she left.

There was a slight sadness in his father's voice as he heard him say in Japanese, _"I can't imagine who would want to hurt this woman, and why."_

Light lowered his gaze and glared at the floor. _"I can't either, but we must find the criminal, and make sure he doesn't do anything like this again..."_ He turned both phones on, and quickly found Linda Markham's mobile number as he recalled how to navigate Mari's pre-paid phone. He dialed the number into his phone, brought it up to one ear, and waited.

After a few rings, the same machine operated English voice replied, "The number you have dialed is not in service."

_Damn it! What's going on here? Why is it difficult to get her parents on the **phone**? It's not right. Mari-san would want her to know she's all right, and Linda Markham-san must be so worried about her in return._

Light sighed in frustration. _"It's no good, Dad. I can't reach her."_

His father frowned. _"Then try someone else."_

 _"You'd_ _ **think**_ _they'd have their phone available in case the cops or someone would call about their daughter."_ He swallowed as a dreadful thought came to mind. _"Unless something may have happened to them, too..."_ He seriously hoped not, for he knew poor Mari needed some good news, and needed to hear her parents' voices.

 _"Maybe their friends might know what's going on. Or perhaps Mari's relatives. Aizawa should be on his way back with the laptop, after all,"_ Dad reasoned.

 _"That's right."_ Light remembered about what Mari said about them having Facebook accounts. With utmost determination, he started to call the contact at the top of the list on her phone, the one that read "Brianna". He brought his phone up to one ear. " _Let's try and find someone before that, so we can at least have_ _ **some**_ _good news for Mari-san when she comes back."_

_"My point exactly, Light."_

After two rings, a voice that wasn't the operator's had answered. The voice was male, and he sounded a bit tired as he spoke in English. "Hello?"

Light replied in polite and concerned English. "Hello. I'm sorry to wake you, but is _Brianna_ there? This is a friend of Mari Markham's. It's important that I speak to her." Light honestly didn't know anyone by the name Brianna, but he was sure that was a girl's name.

A second of silence came, before the man replied, "Um... I think you called the wrong number. Sorry."

Light's gaze narrowed. Who was this guy? "Are you _sure_ , sir? I have a very urgent message, concerning a dear friend of Brianna's."

"I honestly don't know anybody by that name. Best of luck in reaching her though."

Before Light could say another word, the man had hung up. _What a rude person._

 _"You managed to find someone?"_ asked Dad.

 _"Some American man answered and said I dialed a wrong number,"_ Light answered. _"This is supposed to be Mari's friend's number. Her name is Brianna, and he said he didn't know anyone by that name."_

Light watched him sigh in restrained frustration. _"Try to call the next person on the list, while I try calling that number. I'm sure he'll answer better to someone of the law."_


	7. From Above

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the Celty Sturluson in Sim's phone contacts: this story is not crossing over with Durarara. (That's not even the person's real name. It will be explained in a later chapter.) It's just a reference. There just might be other anime and manga references in the chapters to come. 
> 
> This would be the first chapter that has more than one POV in it, by the way.

The guilt felt like a weight inside Marianne's chest as she was followed Dr. Suki down a long hallway. As she felt worried and so guilty, she also held a bitter _hatred_ for a number of things; having amnesia, having to lie to and hide from _all_ these good people who wanted to help her, the bandage around her head that was starting to make her forehead itch, not being able to hear or see her loved ones back home... She felt most especially terrible for Light, Aizawa, and Mr. Yagami right now, and didn't like herself for being dishonest. She knew that contacting anyone she knew back in her world wasn't going to be possible. Unless whoever or whatever was going to provide a _freaking miracle_ , it just wasn't going to _happen_. For at least a while, she was going to be here-and Mom and Dad would start to worry like crazy about her, if they hadn't already.

If Light Yagami hadn't been so clever, sneaky, and insane in the manga, then she wouldn't have felt any worries about him. _None_! She would have told them everything, and not hold back! She'd feel so much safer, and it would've been much easier to tell Light and company to not write anything into the notebook _ever_.

Alas, for Tsugumi Ohba originally intended Light to be corrupted by its nasty dark powers, and have so many killed. It was a major reason why she was so drawn into the fandom in the first place. _Ironic, for I_ _ **also**_ _have a knack for writing twisted fiction, but in my spare time-even as I've done writing roleplay online with my writing buddies. Now this is for real, and I'm stuck in the_ _ **middle**_ _of it_ , came a sardonic thought, to which shifted back to the focus on who Light was now, since she told that little lie to be the Death Note's owner. She never felt all that great about lying, mainly because he had _saved her_ _ **life**_. This was _**never**_ something to take for granted! He had also been sincere, and Marianne remembered how her little panic attack had freaked him out a bit, causing him to be so determined on helping her. She really, _sincerely_ preferred he'd pursue the path to becoming a great detective. _And there I was thinking the worst of him..._

As for Mr. Yagami and Aizawa, there was no ignoring how much it hurt for them to see her so uneasy, nervous, hurt, and upset-and so far away from home. Aizawa was having a bit of a tough time holding it together, but he did his job in asking the right questions and helping the Yagami's at different angles at the time of what had to be some kind of attack. They didn't know _what_ , but it definitely didn't happen on the bus she'd take to work three times a week.

She couldn't think about what might have happened if Light didn't happen to look down to see both herself _and_ the Death Note in the same place. She tried at first, but shuddered and stopped before she could really start. No, it wasn't worth her time to worry about that. There was an overwhelming amount of other problems that hovered over not only herself, but everyone she had met.

That's right, she had to stick to the only solid fool-proof plan she could come up with, or rather partially thought-out plan. L and Watari were the ones to reveal everything to. The fourth wall would come down, and they'd be astonished to hear about them being represented as fiction where she came from, in the least. Showing L the Death Note would help a great deal, along with him to witness her being very, _VERY_ firm on not letting him test it. L, as the skilled investigator he was, would of course ask her a lot of questions too.

She felt confident on how that could work out. However, as soon as she felt just a _teeny bit_ better, a stray thought made its way to the surface of her thought processes. _...Would Ohba even know how much I've screwed everything up?_

This caused her to curiously think further. _Huh. Now_ _ **that**_ _is a good question. Things aren't going to be the same as they were. He'd have to understand if he did know, right? Unless... WHAT? NO! That can't be it! Why the hell would Ohba do this to one of his_ _ **fans**_ _?! He doesn't even know me... It's not possible. Manga writers can't just_ _ **abduct**_ _people and dump them into their work!_

Marianne glared at nothing in particular as she hated her paranoia. It was fighting to take over again. She hated the way she was stretching her mind so much. She could feel this constant, never-ending urge to search so deep in there to figure out how and why she was in this alternate reality. It was like she had to have the answers now, _**RIGHT NOW**_ , before something worse could happen, before someone would find out she was keeping things from them. Those lost memories she felt shouldn't have been lost in the first place! Not being able to remember something so big and important was making her feel hopelessly insecure, and it certainly wasn't helping her with _anything_. She didn't initially want to wait for what was lost to come back, but it wasn't like she could apply the willpower and _remember_ , just like that.

Someone else wearing a hospital uniform was approaching, and Marianne broke out of her tormenting reverie. This was a narrow corridor, and she with Dr. Suki had shift the way they moved so they wouldn't bump into the man, who looked fit in his thirties and also wore a white coat. She didn't really pay much attention to him, as the doctor she knew gently guided her down the hall a bit more around a corner.

"You're very quiet," Dr. Suki noticed. "Are you feeling all right?"

She really was a sweet and pretty young woman, probably a little younger than Marianne was. She understood Dr. Suki was very compassionate about helping people feel better, and this made her want to restrain herself from saying anything snarky. "I just don't have much to say right now. I'm not taking this memory loss situation very well." She had forced herself to calm down, somewhat, keeping all her previous thoughts to herself. "How much further?"

"We're here," she said, opening a door and holding it open for Marianne. "I realize how upsetting that must be for you, Mari-san, but you must give yourself time. As much as we all want to know what happened, that information is locked up inside you. The stress you're feeling, I believe, is just causing your mind to continue to repress your lost memories... Does that make sense? I'm not a psychologist, but it's been easy to see you have gone through something terrible."

 _No shit?_ Marianne mentally shoved that smartass remark far away from entering her voice, and considered Dr. Suki's explanation. "I get what you're saying, but I'm still very uneasy about it. It's just... It's never happened to me before," she replied before walking into the room. She could see that it was mostly dark, except for the window revealing that evening had come. During that time of day, normally, Marianne would be at home, having dinner with her folks. _Mom, Dad... Looks like I'm going to be stuck here for a while._

The switch was to her right as she flicked it on. Florescent lights flickered on, steadily coming on brighter, so it was easy to adjust to the light. In the middle of the room was this bulky looking machine thing that had to be the x-ray, that was almost cocoon shaped except that the top part was a bit more of a dome. Marianne noticed that there was just one of these things, and a cot was out of the open end of the x-ray.

"Have you been to an x-ray room before?"

Mari looked to Dr. Suki, and nodded. "Once, a long time ago. It for was a sinus infection."

The younger lady nodded, her expression understanding. "Those tend to get very bad and annoying. My mother had two of those."

"Ouch. I hope she's doing all right now."

Dr. Suki placed a hand to her shoulder as they walked to stand beside the machine. "She's doing fine where she is, Mari-san. Thank you." There was a bit of sadness there in those gentle dark brown eyes as she said no more about the matter, and just smiled.

Seeing the way her eyes looked caused Marianne to feel her heart sink. _Oh, no. Did her mom die? Hopefully_ _ **not**_ _by sinuses._ That wasn't really any of Marianne's business as she respected the doctor's personal life, but she did feel sorry for her. Instead, she recalled back from her first-time experience to get her head x-rayed. "I remember being asked if I was allergic to iodine, this chemical that's in food such as shrimp. I'm not, and I really like shrimp... I also remember being told that it was going to feel like I was about to pee, but not really."

Dr. Suki nodded. "I see you understand the proceedure very well. Do you have any jewelry on, or have any sort of metal objects you might need to remove?"

The answer Marianne gave was almost automatic. "No."

"'All right. Would you please lay down over here?" Dr. Suki moved her arm to indicate the cot part of the machine.

"Yep." She calmly stepped over, then sat and shifted herself to lay on her back. She was going to tell herself to _relax_ , and worry about Aizawa, Mr. Yagami, and Light once this was all over. Although, she'd have to consider how to respond once Mr. Yagami and Light will say about being unable to reach anybody.

Marianne took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. _As long as I don't say anything to endanger myself in front of them, then Light will stay the way he is. Things_ _ **will**_ _work out... Gotta mention L soon. I have to get to him...through them._

 _You mean use them to do it_ , replied a grim inner voice.

_No! Shut UP brain! It's not like I'm being_ _**evil** _ _about it! I don't really want to hurt them. I don't! I just need their help and connections to go see L-without any **Kira shit** happening. That's _ _**all** _ _._

* * *

Aizawa couldn't really afford to spare a second as he moved past through the lobby inside the NPA building towards the hall to the left. All he could do toward the friends and colleagues was say hello or very short responses on the way to his little cubicle of an office. He wanted to make haste and help that poor woman make contact with her family. What she said about them, and how shook up she was-this new case about Mari had his heart in a vice-like grip. This polite and sweet woman needed her family, because she was scared and very worried about them, her father especially. Who was he to deny that? Not only would she feel better, but it would benefit them all to find out if he had noticed anything out of the ordinary, or learn more about the Markham family's background.

What Chief Yagami had briefed him sounded terrible enough, but to _see_ her in that room, with that _big bandage_ wrapped around her head... He had to help her. He'd never forgive himself otherwise. The memories of today would just haunt him, and it would go _against his morale_ as a _**cop**_ if he broke his word.

It really was extremely bad luck to know that Verizon phone company turned off the home phone, and that her mother's pre-paid phone had run out. That shouldn't have happened, but what else could be done? He knew it wouldn't do any good to rave at those Verizon scumbags, for that would have wasted _more_ time. Both the chief and himself both wanted to help her, very much. Whoever the bastard was, whatever happened, it was very serious. This sick individual who commited this crime wasn't going to get away with this. Aizawa knew he would see to it!

As he kept it up in his fast walk to the room where twenty uniformed men and women worked, sitting at their cubicles, either focused at their computers or doing small talk among themselves. Aizawa didn't pay much attention to them at all as he continued onward to his office. Hirokazu Ukita, a friend and partner on the force, was at the cubicle behind and across from his. He turned around upon hearing Aizawa's brisk footsteps. _"_ _ **Someone's**_ _in a hurry."_

Aizawa kept his explanation brief as he started to unplug his laptop. _"New case, about this young American girl at Tokyo Medical University Hospital who had been attacked. Mari Markham-san can't really member what happened, and is freaked out of her mind about it. Right now, we're having problems in trying to get one of her parents on the phone."_

His partner's tone changed from being in jest to concern. _"Oh wow,_ _ **that**_ _doesn't sound good."_

 _"It's no good at all... She says there are relatives that have Facebook accounts. Maybe we'll have better luck there. It's why I'll be needing this."_ Aizawa raised the cord and placed it on his desk before kneeling and retrieving the carrier case from the lower drawer. _"The chief and his son Light are over there with Mari-san now, attempting to call her family's friends."_ He sighed as he began to pack up the computer, moving efficiently as he had to move some of his pencils, small notepad, a coffee mug, and framed pictures of his family aside. That broken-hearted sad look on her face and what she said about her father wouldn't leave his mind as his gaze drifted a second to a family photo, his little girl laughing as she sat on his shoulders. Saya took the picture herself. _I hope Chyio will say similar noble things about me, one day._

_"I've never been to America, but I'm_ _**damn** _ _sure the guy who kidnapped her is on the run. He's probably somewhere in Japan right now."_

_"She cannot remember who attacked her? At_ _**all** _ _?"_

_"No, she really can't."_

Irritation was heard in Ukita's voice. _"Damn. That_ _ **animal**_ _... You know I have your back on this one, Aizawa. Anything you need me to do, just say so."_

Aizawa turned to his partner, and considered. _"Could you stay here? If the chief and I can't get a hold of her parents on the phone, then we might need to look up the billing on her family's LAN line... Might have to give you a call if it comes down to that."_

Ukita gave a curt nod, with a look that made him look older and more mature. _"You got it."_

 _"Thanks."_ Aizawa lifted the carrier case off the desk. _"See you later, Ukita."_

_"Good luck. Hope you get in touch with Mari-san's folks."_

Aizawa nodded. _"Thanks." It's_ _ **not right**_ _, whatever that bastard did..._ A beat later, he turned to leave. _"I should go."_

_"Yeah, you should. Update me about this later, all right?"_

* * *

This chick? This Marianne Markham? She amused him. _Fascinated_ him even, because not only did she show up so fast, out of nowhere from this white, flickering flash of light that happened just before the Note he purposely dropped had hit the ground of the human world. She was full of secrets, it seemed, not all of them he couldn't begin guess at just yet!

He had chuckled when watching her lie rather quickly about reading the rules that were barely mentioned to her, from where he crouched looking down into one of the holes that showed the earth down below. He had seen her tell that Light Yagami kid the notebook was something she found _the other day_ , to keep as a "writing journal". "Heh heh heh hahaha! Such a riot, she is..."

Also, for _some reason_ , when that same kid told her his name, she became very afraid of him for a little while. _Why_? Did she recognize him, or something?

The lies and secrets didn't seem to stop there as she only revealed a part of her whole first name to those police officers and that doctor woman. Why was that, exactly? Why lie and then look so guilty about it? If she really needed their help, then why wasn't she being fully honest with these poor saps?

The expressions she hid from everyone while inside that building, whatever thoughts she had locked in that interesting, deceitful mind of hers-just what did she think she was doing? What was she hiding from everyone? What was she _so worried_ about? He couldn't really help but be so curious about her, wondering where she came from, and why she arrived in such a strange way. He wondered who or what gave her that clean looking bloody cut on her forehead. If she didn't know any of this, who would? Out of all the thousands of years he's lived, he's never heard of any human appearing like that. No, certainly not. In overhearing the stories about these creatures from the other shinigami, there had never been any incidents of humans that mysterious and strange appearances like this!

Perhaps they could find out together soon, about Marianne Markham's point of origin, and why she appeared like that.

_Things are getting so interesting so fast, much more than I expected... This will be_ _**FUN** _ _!_

He continued to observe her, snickering as that x-ray thing hummed to life. _I do hope you'll hold onto that Death Note, Marianne. Think of it as my_ _ **gift**_ _to you. Why, I'll let you have a long look through the rules first, before we meet..._ _ **in four days**_ _!_

The King wasn't all that strict to enforce the rule of flying down into the human world. From what he heard, humans didn't necessarily _**have to**_ write into the Death Note for the shinigami to enter and make contact with them-to which was just fine by him! Waiting for five days made sense though. There were some who would just pick it up, only to throw it away and disregard it without second guessing.

 _This_ shinigami was looking forward to leaving this barren place, for it's been _so damn boring here_. He had a hunch that girl was going to hang onto the Death Note, but one could never be really too sure about humans. They were unpredictable.

Even if she did decide to throw it away, within five days, he could always drop it near her again-to _mess with her_! Really, in comparison to several thousand other humans, he was just too interested and curious in this one. Marianne was as interesting as it _got_ when it came to humans, and he didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to have some fun with her.

Before he could laugh out loud over this idea, he knew there was something else to look forward to in the human world a well; those red, _juicy_ apples. It's been so long since the last time he had one, but he never forgot how tasty they were...

"The only problem about this entire thing is the _waiting_ ," he said to himself. Then, he chuckled at himself. "Wow, I've _never_ been this excited about anything..." He kept his voice very, _very_ low, so all those nosy, lazy, and pathetic gambling shinigami wouldn't overhear. Marianne Markham; she was his discovery, _the_ human for his enjoyment, his ticket to the good life.


	8. Strangers

Almost halfway down the names listed in Mari's contacts, it had been either a wrong number or the operator voice that didn't sound all that sympathetic to Light about the number being unavailable, or not in service.

Both his father and himself exchanged looks of disbelief and disgruntled expressions in between making the calls. Wasn't there any person on this list available? Did anyone in Maryland even give a damn about Mari? Just where were these people who even cared about her, or her family? Wouldn't they be concerned? Wouldn't her _parents_ be?!

Apart from the tired man who didn't know anyone named Brianna, there were a number of honest sympathies from people Light had spoken to. However, they were all strangers that never met Mari. Getting someone on the line for her seemed to be going _nowhere_ , and this bothered him as much as it did when he first saw her unconscious on Daikoku Academy's front yard, with no visible sign of the kidnapper who hurt her.

By now, he had lost count of how many times he asked himself on what was going on. Hardly anything seemed to make sense on this afternoon. There were all these holes, these unclear details he couldn't even begin to understand. This case was a really crazy and unusual one, that's for sure!

Was there someone, or more likely an _organization_ of people, putting out a personal attack on the Markham family, and those who knew them? It seemed that way! However, in recalling what Mari said about her family being respected in the southern Maryland community they lived in, this did not seem to fit. What the hell else could it _**be**_ though?

Mari wouldn't lie about this, right? ...Then again, he didn't know enough about her to be absolutely sure on that.

Whatever the reason may be, they needed to get a hold of someone, and very soon—hopefully before she'd come back from the x-ray room. Of all the terrible and sad news, couldn't there be at least a little hope for her? If Dad, Aizawa, and Light could do that for her, then everyone would start to feel a little better about this, at least.

It was better to try and present her with some good news, to uplift her and calm her than to have her start panicking all over again. Mari's family had to be _somewhere_ , right?

" _Aizawa had better hurry up with that laptop,"_ Dad said. His patience was also wearing thin. _"This is getting too strange, and troublesome."_

" _Clearly this has to be a gang of terrorists, or something,"_ Light assumed. _"A group of highly skilled and very organized people..." Not ninjas_ , he reminded himself. His eyes narrowed as lowered his head and brought a hand up to his chin. _"They probably don't want to be found at all... Each person who answered us on the phone, we might have to start treating them as suspects."_

Light breathed out a sigh, and told himself to calm down. He didn't want to project his agitation towards the next person he was trying to call; Jim Bolman. _"I'm going to try Mr. Jim Bolman here. This will be the last call I'll make for now. Mari-san will be coming back sometime soon."_

His father nodded, then looked at the contact below Bolman. _"I'll give a try with Mr .Fitzgerald."_ He quickly dialed Fitzgerald's number into his phone as Light pressed the center of the navigation on Mari's phone. Then he proceeded to dial Bolman's number into his own phone, and pressed Send.

" 'ello?" This next person, another man, answered curiously in a southern American accent.

Light kept his frustration wrapped up in a calm voice as he attempted to address this stranger. "Jim Bolman?"

"Wha...? Who the hell's that?"

"It's very urgent that I speak to him, please." Light said. He made sure to mix some authority into the politeness of his voice. "Is he there?"

In the background, he could hear his dad asking for a John Fitzgerald, but he knew he had to treat this phone call as high priority as all the other calls he made to find someone who really knew Mari, and worried about her whereabouts.

"Hol' on a sec," There was a pause, before Light could hear the man call out to someone. "Marge!"

A plain American woman's voice in the background called back, "What?"

"I got a guy on th' phone, askin' about some other guy named Jim Bolman," the man informed. "You know him?"

"No, I don't."

"That the truth?" There was a bit of anger coming from who Light assumed to be the woman's husband, or boyfriend, because he was shouting, "Don' lie to me now, 'cause I don' wanna find out about some other sonnuva bitch touching you! You _know_ what happened the last time..."

The woman sounded outraged and offended. "I'm _not lying_! How _**dare**_ you... I told you I haven't gone seeing anyone else. I never met any Jim Bolman in my _life_!"

" _Excuse me_." In struggling to hold back most of his impatience, Light had raised his voice a notch. "This is the National Police Agency, and we need to know if there's any chance you might know if there's any way Mr. Bolman can be reached."

"The police?" The man had stopped yelling. "Why? Is he 'n trouble?"

"No. This concerns a dear friend of his. It's a personal matter," Light told him. "This is Mr. Bolman's number, isn't it?"

"No, it's not. It's our number, and it's always been our number. I don' know if we can help you, Officer."

"Give me the phone, Bill," the woman, Marge, said.

 _This has to be the_ _ **tenth**_ _wrong number. What the hell? Why is this so damn difficult?_ "Could I talk to your wife, sir?"

"Bill, I _**said**_ give me the phone. Please."

"You givin' me a _tone_?" Bill threatened the woman. "Go back and sit down."

"If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to call your local authorities," Light warned him. Whoever this Bill was, he didn't like him one bit. "Put your wife on the phone, please."

"Who did you say you were with again? National Police somethin'? I never even _heard_ o' you!"

He heard the woman beginning to protest about their phone again as scuffling noises happened next, followed by the sound of a loud slap. Light felt his gaze widen. _Did he just_ _ **hit**_ _her?!_ Clearly, this man was out of control, and that woman needed help.

A mass amount of problems were currently going on with Mari, but Light just couldn't let that brute get away with this. It went against his principles and his sense of justice. Women weren't supposed to be treated that way!

" _Light?"_

He turned to Dad, who must have finished his call with John Fitzgerald, or it may not have been the man he was trying to reach.

"We should call the Maryland police," Light said to his father in English, for Bill to hear. "This one man I've spoken to is very violent. He just—"

There was a click coming from the phone, cutting Light off in mid-sentence. Bill must have ended the call. _Bastard..._

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Aizawa coming in, carrying what looked like a fabric carrying case. The laptop had to be inside it.

" _Aizawa, set up the computer. I want you to look up a number of a Maryland police force, right away_ ," Light told him in Japanese, in case Mari was on her way back. She was plenty worried and upset enough. She didn't need to hear anything about Bill and Marge's problems.

Light showed Aizawa the number that was supposed to be Jim Bolman's—not that he could understand _why_ Bill said otherwise, but it didn't matter right now. _"When you do, I want you to call them and have them trace this number. The man I was talking to, he should be reported for domestic violence."_ After that, he handed the phone to him. _I just won't tolerate crude men treating their spouses like this. It's unjustified._

This startled his father. _"What? That can't be of Mari's family friends, can it?"_

" _No. It's a disrespectful man who had just hit a woman very hard. He sounded very angry, and she may_ _ **still be**_ _in danger."_

Aizawa already had the case unzipped. Light quickly grabbed all of Mari's belongings in both hands off that little table and dropped them on the end of the hospital bed. Mari's black notebook would have slid off and fallen to the floor if he hadn't put a hand on it and moved it next to her purse.

" _What in the world is_ _ **going on**_ _over there?_ " Aizawa demanded to know as he plugged the cord of his laptop into the wall socket. Then he turned to them. _"Have either of you managed to get a hold of anyone who might be worried about the girl?"_

" _Not one of the people who answered were any of Mari's friends,"_ Dad said, shaking his head.

Aizawa stared at him, startled. _"_ _ **Nobody**_ _?"_

" _The numbers halfway down the contacts list were either not available, or wrong numbers... Light might be onto something about this being some kind of organized group of criminals. We'd better not waste time, for we might have a definite suspect."_ He looked so focused and frustrated as he looked at him. _"You should do as Light says if we're to find anything relating to who may be responsible for terrorizing our witness, and possibly her loved ones."_

Aizawa sat down as Light explained the conversation he had with the man named Bill, and about the woman he assumed to be his spouse. _"I don't believe the woman could be a suspect, but this Bill might be."_

" _This is just all_ _ **kinds**_ _of messed up... Where is Mari-san anyway?"_ asked Aizawa.

" _She's with Dr. Suki, getting her head x-rayed."_

Aizawa faced the laptop he placed on the small table, and turned it on. As Light was watching him, another thought had occurred to Light. There was one name on the contact list Mari had said not to call, because she was not close friends with that person.

_This Celty Sturluson could be as Mari says, but first-we'd better make sure Bill gets arrested... That woman Marge clearly doesn't deserve to have someone like that in her life._

It wasn't until a minute later when he could hear two distant but familiar voices speaking in English.

"About those painkiller pills you gave me. How much more should I take?"

"Two every four hours. If _needed_. It should be enough to get you through some of tomorrow."

"Okay. Got it."

Light lowered his voice and suggested in Japanese, _"Listen. We'd better not have Mari-san freaking out over this domestic violence incident."_

" _She's worried plenty enough about being here, and her parents,"_ Aizawa agreed. _"Besides, they don't know her, so it's not likely she'll know them... I say we should just keep her safe from these strangers."_

" _Yes. Still, we had better break the news to her carefully,"_ Dad said.

"We're back." Light turned to see Mari walking into the room, followed by Dr. Suki.

"How are you feeling?" his father asked her.

"A little calmer." She looked past them. "Mr. Aizawa brought the laptop, I see."

"I need to borrow it for a minute. We'll help you get on Facebook soon," he said. He only glanced at her over his shoulder. "How did the x-ray go? I assume there were no problems?"

"No, none at all," said Dr. Suki. "Mari-san had told me she had an x-ray of her head, due to a sinus infection from long ago."

Light saw Mari look to Dr. Suki in a bit of concern, before moving over to the hospital bed and sitting down on it. He sat next to her, and attempted to break the bad news to her gently. "Mari-san... We have not been able to reach your mother, or any of your friends. _So far_."

She looked back at him, worried. "What? _Seriously_?"

Dr. Suki at the corner of Light's vision look alarmed. "Oh no..."

Light placed a calming hand on Mari's shoulder. "We've only gone through half of your contacts. There still might be someone for you to talk to, so I wouldn't lose hope over that just yet. And Aizawa will help you in going onto Facebook."

Her gaze averted from his, as she looked towards the floor silently. It seemed that she was at a loss for words.

Dad walked over and sat next her on the other side of the bed. "We're very concerned that you may still be in danger, but don't worry. We're going to have someone stand guard, just outside of this room."

Mari nodded, but did not look at any of them. Her response was quiet, and she looked very much in shock. Her head lowered. Apart from that, she was sitting very, very still. "I trust you."

Light felt bothered and tense about all of this. For all this time he had been the one to help reassure her more than once that everything would all work out. He still wanted to do that, but right now he wasn't so sure on what to tell her right now. Everything seemed to be going wrong around her. She might not want to speak to him or anyone else for a while.

Still, he _had_ to try. He hoped she would be willing. "We need your help again. There are some questions and concerns to be addressed."

Mari nodded, but still hadn't looked up from the floor. "Okay."

"Are you sure?"

"I'd like to go home as soon as possible. Yes, I'm sure."

"It may be a while until you can," her father said. "We have reason to believe there may be some very bad people over there. We don't know for sure, but we want you to be safe."

Mari paused before replying, her voice a bit distant. "I understand." Light believed she was trying to block the emotions of being overwhelmed from getting to her, to which he could understand very well. Everyone else in the room would have been able to realize that.

"You'll be safe here," Dr. Suki said. "You'll still need to stay under overnight observation. I..." Light looked up to see her swallow, determined and full of resolve from the brief wave of shock that came over her. "As long as you're under my care, with a guard at the door as Yagami-san said, you'll be safe for the night."

"I know." She looked up from the floor to her, and then to Light. "You have something to ask me, right? So ask."

Aizawa stood out of the chair and retrieved what had to be his own cell phone. "I've got an important call to make. Be right back."

He nodded curtly to Light as he moved past everyone. Did that mean he had the number of a Maryland police station?

"Dr. Suki, I need to ask you not to share anything we have discuss here to anyone," his father said.

"Yes. Of course," she was quick to reply. "I wouldn't want to endanger this patient, not in any way. Believe me; I do understand. I would even go and make sure no one disturbs any of you."

Light knew she could be trusted. He had no reason to feel concerned about that, for it was easy to see how worried she was about Mari. She was a wonderful woman in her profession, and as a person. He was so glad she was Mari's doctor now. "Thank you, Dr. Suki. We greatly appreciate it."

"I can't help but want to make sure any patient of mine is not left in any distress or discomfort. Light-san, Yagami-san, I'm sure you remember."

His father nodded. "Yes, I do. Thank you, Doctor. You really are dedicated in your profession."

Dr. Suki nodded, her dark eyes still showing determination. "If there's anything else I can do..." She tilted her head slightly at her patient, her gaze shifting back to gentle concern almost instantaneously. "Mari-san? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Light glanced to Mari, who slowly moved her eyes up from the floor to look at her again. After a moment of thinking it over, she softly voiced a request. "Kleenex, please. For later."


	9. Selective Evasion, Selective Information

Aizawa left the room, and kept his exit very casual so he wouldn't cause Mari to worry. She already had herself, her friends, and family to be afraid for. There was no need, at least not now, to mention anything to her about the violent redneck Light had talked to on his phone.

He made sure to close the door behind him as he recalled from memory on what that number was to the police station. Before that, he had looked up in the yellow pages on the internet for the names of the husband and wife that lived in somewhere in Prince Frederick, Maryland—William (Bill) and Marge Hayes. Now that he had this information, he could contact the state police and confidently ask about them first, before asking if there had been any missing persons reports concerning Mari.

This new case was just _**insane**_! He couldn't believe what the possibilities and reasoning the chief, Light, and Aizawa were facing, in addition to there being no luck at all in trying to reach someone who was close to Mari. It tugged hard at his heartstrings to think of her suffering further because a group of _terrorists_ or whatever were holding her family and friends somewhere.

For her sake, he was determined to track down these awful people and put a stop to their crimes as soon as possible. _No person deserves to be hurt and separated from their loved ones like this. Nobody._

The sound of the door opening caused him to break away from his thoughts to see Dr. Suki coming out into the hall. She regarded him with a very brief faint smile, but they both knew she was just as concerned and sad for Mari as Aizawa was.

Dr. Suki closed the door before walking away. It would be safe to assume there were other patients she watched over. Aizawa knew he couldn't put much thought or concern about it, for he had to call the Maryland police and put a stop to the bastard who hit his spouse.

Aizawa drew out a sigh as he dialed the number to the MPD and waited for someone to answer. He didn't have to wait long at all as a female voice replied, "Deputy Pallantine." This was a firm and attentive voice. This _had_ to be a voice of experience. From the tone of her voice, Aizawa assumed she was probably in her mid-twenties, the same age range he was in.

In English, he chose to be direct. "I'm calling to report an attack at the home of William and Marge Hayes, along Main Street in Prince Frederick. Mr. Hayes may still be threatening and attacking his wife as I speak."

The response was both careful and immediate. "I see. Please hold while I send out someone to the Hayes residence." She seemed like a very focused American police officer, someone who had the potential to be very helpful to answer to Aizawa's inquiries concerning Mari.

"Yes, of course,"he told Pallantine.

Again, Aizawa didn't have to wait long until Pallantine returned. "Thank you for your concern, sir. Did you see Mr. Hayes attacking his spouse?"

"No. A colleague of mine had been talking to him on the phone when he heard him hit Marge Hayes very hard."

She replied, "Hmn, well this is not the first time he has harmed her. May I ask who's calling, and why your colleague could not make this call?" There was a courtesy to her voice, but also a subtle note of suspicion Aizawa had detected.

 _I wonder who else this asshole harmed._ "Certainly. My name is Shuichi Aizawa of the National Police Agency, in Tokyo, Japan. My colleague is technically the chief's son, and he is with a young woman from the state of Maryland. He had been trying to contact a family friend of hers but Mr. Hayes had responded instead. Ma'am, if I may have your full cooperation, I'd like to ask you something about Mr. Hayes in particular."

Pallantine took a moment to register this before she became a bit defensive. "Aizawa, correct? I'd like to know what this is about, before I could answer any of your questions. What business does foreign law enforcement have to do with this man?"

 _Fair enough_ , he thought. He was willing to cooperate at least this much. "This concerns a woman by the name of Mari Markham. We currently have her under our protection. She and her family live not far from Prince Frederick. My friend in particular had asked Mr. Hayes if he knew of Mr. Jim Bolman, a family friend of Mari's."

There were a handful of names listed in Mari's phone contacts, and Jim Bolman had been the last person Light had been trying to reach.

"Jim Bolman... I'm going to check our records for that name."

Aizawa relaxed, but by only a hair. "That would be very much appreciated, Deputy Pallantine."

"Oh no trouble at all, Aizawa," Pallantine said, "If there is anyone associated with Bill Hayes, we would have that in our files... Do you believe Hayes had anything to do with harming this Mari Markham, or her family?"

"I might," Aizawa admitted. "That is what I'd like to ask you about. Do you know if he has any history in terrorism, or any sort of organized crime?"

"Wait. _Terrorism_?" Pallantine seemed slightly alarmed there. "Hayes has never been involved in anything that serious."

Aizawa tensed. "Not at all?"

"No. Never," she confirmed. "I'm _absolutely_ sure of that. He's a heavy drinker, and former drug addict. It's too much of an overestimation to suspect him of anything that requires such intellect. Hayes is more along average, uncouth trailer trash over _terrorist_."

"I see." _But why the hell would that man have Mari's friend's number? I don't get it. I don't even believe she'd be friends with anyone_ _ **like**_ _him._ Something did not match up at all, and it did not feel right. "In that case, he can't be involved concerning the Markham family and their friends we're not able to call. From what you told me, he wouldn't fit the profile."

In the background, he heard faint click-clacks of what had to be Deputy Pallantine typing on a computer keyboard. "I understand your concern for this woman, sir, but it's a bit of a _stretch_ to assume there are terrorists or organized crime involved. What police branch did you say you were from again?"

She was going farther past Aizawa's hopes and expectations in terms of cooperation. Was she also still suspicious of him? In spite of how unsettling this call was starting to become, Aizawa forced himself to remain calm and polite. "Ma'am, let me explain something to you. All I'm at liberty to say here, on her behalf, is this. Mari Markham had been brutally attacked, and then kidnapped from where she was. She hasn't stated her address yet, but I _know_ she mentioned _Southern Maryland._ This might have happened without you knowing it. She has no memory of being attacked, and we cannot get any of her family or friends on the phone."

Aizawa may have sounded a little bitter towards the end, but he really couldn't afford to care. It's been one very stressful afternoon, and all he wanted was some solid, straightforward answers to go on about what was happening to her loved ones. Was that really too much to _ask for_?

He took a moment to collect himself, before continuing. "Do you believe me now, Deputy Pallantine? I'm who I say I am, and some very terrible people could still be _out there_. A number of innocent lives could be at stake, and we both know none of this be should taken lightly."

The click-clacking came to a complete stop, and for a moment the line was silent. Pallantine's persistent and very skeptical tone changed to something a bit softer, and more understanding. "All right. Aizawa, I want to believe you. You seem very genuine and dedicated to catching the people responsible for harming Ms. Markham. Your courtesy call about Hayes further proves it, but something still doesn't add up.

"I finished looking for the information you requested, but there seem to be no records of a Jim Bolman. Not even as an alias. No criminal or phone records connect this man to Hayes at all."

This stumped and irritated Aizawa a great deal. _**Shit**_ _! Whoever these people are, they're good at not leaving any trace._ _ **Too**_ _good._ "Are there at least any missing person reports with the last name of Markham? I have her phone, and the list of names whose numbers are either not available or claimed to be wrong numbers. Could you do a background check for me too, if I give you these numbers?"

"I can help you further if you send me a photo of Ms. Markham, through your phone. I'll need some type of I.D. of her to go on."

Aizawa considered, and believed that this woman was an overall straight up no-nonsense person, and someone with a strong sense of justice. Just like himself. He may not have liked how she pressed him for information, but he greatly appreciated how she had gone out of her way tell him more about William Hayes.

From what she said, combined with what Light said, this man was definitely not a suspect. Light and Chief Yagami had come to a dead end. Light may have done some good to save Marge Hayes from being further assaulted, but these people most likely didn't know Mari at all.

Aizawa had made a bold move and took matters into his own hands a little, but he was sure the chief would understand, once he would put Pallantine through to him. A little outside help from the law near Mari's neighborhood wouldn't hurt. If was any hostile group, or more than one, who were still over there, it'd be quicker to have _them_ catch these guys. It would take too long to hire anyone from the force here in Japan to organize a team to send overseas to find them.

"The chief, Soichiro Yagami, is in charge of this case. I'll have to put you through to him about that. We don't wish to endanger our witness in any way."

"I understand that," complied Pallantine. "I understand that very well. May I speak to Chief Yagami? Is he available?"

* * *

"Kleenex, please. For later," Marianne said to Dr. Suki. No matter what was going to happen next, she knew that she would end up crying over everything.

As she felt Mr. Yagami's hand on top of one of hers, she didn't let any emotions surface. All the tears were spent for now, _gone_ , and would not come back for a while as she was starting to feel a little worn out from all that recent stress. She let herself relax in posture, but could not bear to look at them at this moment.

As if the guilt wasn't bearing down on her enough, what Mr. Yagami had confirmed on her being in this world for a while was just turning the knife. _Of course_ there was no way to contact anyone she knew.

As the doctor had done before, she used a very kind, understanding, and soothing voice. "I'll see about finding you some. Be back shortly."

Marianne listened to Dr. Suki leaving as she felt unable to hold her head erect right now. For what felt like a long and quiet minute, no one felt like saying anything.

It was Mr. Yagami who broke the silence with his concern. "We want to believe the people listen on your phone are those you trust, Mari. We need to know; are you certain that the people listed on your phone are family friends?"

 _I don't need to lie about this part._ _ **I don't even want to.**_ _But I just can't tell you they're supposed to be from a_ _ **parallel universe**_ _._ "Yes. I don't know everyone on there. Some are people only my dad knows. He does not have a cell phone, and sometimes he asks me to call one of them using it. They can't be bad people. I know he wouldn't ask me to add a new contact who isn't someone he trusts as a friend..." She slowly shook her head and told a lie she was already regretting while saying it. "I don't understand why you can't reach any of them. What's going on?"

"The numbers we've tried halfway through are either unavailable, or wrong numbers," Light explained. His tone sounded so apologetic, but there was a strength there too. She could sense that he wasn't going to give up, no matter what—and she did _need_ that, to a certain extent. "The people we've spoken to haven't said anything about knowing you, or your parents."

Marianne closed her eyes. She wasn't all that surprised to hear this, but it still hurt. It still depressed her. Her family and those close to them were going to worry, and there was _nothing_ she could do to help calm them. She didn't want them worrying, but that was beyond anything anyone in Death Note Earth could do."That's crazy... Some of those numbers I've called before in the past, _successfully_. There hasn't been a need to call all of them, but I'd never doubt my parents. They wouldn't have given me phone numbers of strangers."

"You're sure?" Her heart felt yet another heavy and silent pang of guilt to see him so concerned and determined. He was thinking and behaving like someone of _true justice_ , not from the warped mind of a serial killer.

" _Yes_. What else can I tell you here?" she asked Light, in spite of how wrong she knew felt it was in lying to his face about this. With each lie, little by little, she was digging herself a hole, building a great burden she felt she had not choice but to bear, as she lifted her head and looked at him in the eyes. She hardened her voice and knew this next part _wasn't_ a lie. "This has never happened to me before, or to my parents. _Ever_. I haven't lost _those_ memories, and I don't know who would do this." In that way, she really was being honest about that—she really had no idea who, if it were a person, would hurt her and dump her somewhere for Light to see. She had been trying hard not to think deeply about it, for she was sure that wouldn't help anyone much. She'd only begin to feel scared and _more_ paranoid.

There came a question in which she did not want to ask, but had to anyway. She felt it was necessary. "Could everyone I know back home be in _danger_?"

She turned her head to look at Light's dad as he spoke. There was so much _I feel so terrible about this_ to see in his eyes, all over his face. "We can't be certain, but this is a possibility we can't rule out."

Marianne reminded herself again that if she didn't know what to say or do, then she wouldn't do anything. She did just that, and looked away. It felt as if her heart had skipped a few beats. _What if they really_ _ **are**_ _in danger...? No, I can't_ _ **think**_ _about that! They have to be okay, right? They're just back in my world. I can't think about it. Things are bad enough as they **are**! _

"Do you have any photos of your parents, or anyone in your contacts?" Light asked. He didn't hesitate there. They both must have seen the flash fear on her own face. Light, she was certain, didn't want her to go into panicking mode all over again. It only made sense, and for a while she's believed that he was still innocent.

Marianne also didn't want anything bad happening to anyone she cared about, back in her world. It wouldn't be a bad idea to show them what she had of her family, _just in case_! "On my red phone, there are some videos. My mom is on at least one of them, and my dad's on another."

She heard Mr. Yagami lean forward a little. "May we see them?"

_Yeah. I think I'd better show them,_ _**just in case** either Mom or Dad, or both... God, I hope it's just me. Please, please let it be just me. _

In order to help them believe her, it would be necessary to show them the videos she recorded. Marianne nodded curtly to Mr. Yagami, then turned to where her phone was; just behind her brown and green plaid leather purse. She pulled the one end of the cord out that connected to her headphones, and lightly pressed the power button below the touch screen of her old red Verizon phone. It was still on, but the phone battery had drained a bit. _Damn it, one of my phone charger plugs are still in my_ _ **canvas bag**_ _..._ According to the phone clock, it was a quarter after five P.M. here.

 _Oh, hold on! If I'm ever going to get in touch with L, now's the time!_ Marianne mentally smacked herself. She had been so startled and worried about her loved ones that she almost completely forgot! "Wait. Before I do that, I have to ask—do either of you know of any world famous detectives who are able to solve really hard cases? Because I sort of remember reading this one news article or two about one. Maybe he could help us?"

Light looked surprised as he looked to his dad for an answer. As Marianne looked to him to, easily showing concern, she saw him looking at her in careful concern. "I wouldn't know anyone like that. Who would this detective be?"

"He's known as L," Marianne explained. "I heard he normally doesn't show his face to anyone, and keeps his true identity secret, and I read about him tracking down this serial killer known as Beyond Birthday."

Truthfully, she was referring to a light novel that was supposed to have taken place _before_ the Death Note manga series, called Death Note: Another Note, The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases. She never got to read that yet, but remembered seeing the advertisement page for it towards the back of more than one Death Note volume, and reading a bit about it on the Death Note Wiki site.

Marianne bit the inside of her lower lip in nervousness as she started to recall on the information she read about it. _Oh shit, I hope I don't ever meet_ _ **BB**_ _._

She heard total bewilderment in Light's voice as he said, " _Beyond Birthday_? That's a bizarre alias if I ever heard one."

Marianne looked to him as she continued, "He was this really, _**really**_ nasty guy. Very violent and insane...and I don't think I'll want to mention any gruesome details. FBI agent, Naomi..." _Augh, what was-_ _ **is**_ _her last name...?_ "Naomi Misora? I think that's her name. She worked alongside L and the L.A.P.D. to catch him."

In knowing the most about Naomi and her fiancée, Raye Penber, being both minor characters in the Death Note manga, Marianne found it a bit strange that she had struggled a bit to remember her name, when she could easily remember Raye Penber.

Light gave her a really strange look. Marianne wasn't all that surprised, even as she easily faked it. _Of_ _ **course**_ _he doesn't know about L. He's never heard of him or met him. Duh. And now that I have the notebook, Naomi just might live to marry Raye..._

She looked to his dad, who was thinking hard to recall ever hearing anything about L. "I'll have a look into that later," he said.

"Good," Marianne said. "I'm sure there _must_ be one on the force that knows how to get in contact with L. I think we're going to need all the help we can get."

Just as she finished that sentence, she noticed the door opening, Aizawa poking his head into the room. "Chief? Could I talk to you for a minute?" He looked very serious.

_Uh oh. Wonder what's happening. Please, Mom, Dad. Allan. Bob. Brianna. Ruby. Jim..._ _**Please** _ _, God. Keep them safe and where they should be... I shouldn't let myself be paranoid about them, but I sure freaking **am** anyway. I'm in some deep, DEEP trouble... **Again** , if anyone else I know is in this world, then I'll find out about it. Right? _

_Right_ , Marianne answered herself. She would have to focus on what was going on around her, and keep it together-stick to the plan to spill out all secrets and worries she kept to L, once the opportunity would present herself.

Mr. Yagami stood up, and looked to them. "Mari, you'll have to show those videos of your family to Light while I go see what this is about."

She nodded to him. "Yes. I'll do that." There was no need to delay that any longer, for she had mentioned L. She did what had to be done. From there, if planned right, she could go see him sometime _soon_.

Aizawa opened the door all the way and moved aside as Dr. Suki had returned, carrying what looked like an unopened tissue box. She handed it to Marianne. "I have some errands to attend to," she said. "Other patients, you know. I'll see you again later."

"See you later then," Marianne replied.

"I see you're feeling a bit better. That's great."

 _Yeah...but it's not gonna last._ Marianne managed to put on a partial smile for her. "Yeah, somewhat better..."

"Well, I must go. Goodbye—and remember. Take the pills only if you need to, every four hours."

"Got it."

"Goodbye, Light-san."

"Dr. Suki, thank you for everything," he replied. He sounded grateful to her.

_I wonder how those two know each other. Was he a former patient, or...?_

Light and Marianne watched as she said her farewells to Aizawa and Mr. Yagami before closing the door behind her.

She managed to look brave and confident for him. In continuing to focus on here and now, she would know what to do. "All-righty then. Video time," Marianne said, as soon as it was just the both of them. She wasn't nervous or scared as she once was of him of what must have been _at least_ a few hours ago. Light wasn't paying any attention to the Death Note, and that was very good. _As long as he stays focused_ _ **away**_ _from it, he won't be thinking about experimenting with it._


	10. Heartfelt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11 will be coming soon! Might be a little slow going, because there's also this Death Note AMV I'm putting together, and it's very awesome.
> 
> I love my reoccuring OCs, by the way. Dr. Suki is this motherly-like, gentle soul of a woman. I definitely want to bring her back at a later point of the story.
> 
> Deputy Pallantine is this determined, no-nonsense cop who's about as dedicated to the job as Aizawa is, if not a bit more! As I was first writing about her, she took me by surprise. I wanted to explore her more and write in her POV for this chapter. I find her very interesting as a minor character.
> 
> The middle POV part, d'aawww... Light, or AU Light as I tend to call him because hey this is an alternate storyline, is so adorable!

Deputy Lanelle Pallantine could see the very sad excuse for a man, Bill Hayes, being taken in past the reception desk she was seated behind. Officer Dan Palmer, she recognized from his young appearance, short dark hair, and athletic build was the one who had apprehended the man. She ignored the felon's hateful dark eyes and angry profane mutterings as she waited for Aizawa's superior to get on the phone. She'd have to ask Dan later about poor Marge. She really ought to consider on divorcing her husband now, or rather sooner after she took the first beating.

 _Hayes. A_ _ **terrorist**_ _._ When she had first talked with the officer of the NPA, in which was indeed a _real_ police force in Japan she found out, she thought this was some kind of twisted joke at first. Terrorism, of course, was _**nothing**_ to joke about, especially since that particular September Eleventh had taken place. Pallantine just knew this man, and what any of his kind were always like. She had been one of the few of the Maryland State Police out there to arrest him. People like Hayes were too ignorant and selfish to get involved into any organized crime. They wouldn't have the effort, or skill to be stealthy and unseen.

Terrorism. _God_ , over _**here**_ , in _Calvert County_? Pallantine was still having a hard time considering this possibility. This area has had a minor crime rate for years. She felt a sense of dread over the possibility of it sky rocketing to becoming as awful as it is in D.C. Pallantine had never been up there, but she was someone who watched the local news a lot. Some of the people that lived up there, seemingly very normal people, were seriously off their rockers.

To Pallantine, it was an importance to keep up to date on was reported crimes on TV or on the radio, so she would stay alert and focused on the job—especially during the days such as this when the original receptionists had sick days or had to take time off for other important reasons. Tracy Darlahan, a sweet and hard-working older woman in her late thirties, wasn't feeling well, and no one else was around to stand in for her today, so Pallantine had volunteered.

If Pallantine could prevent a worst case scenario before it could be noticeable to the public, then the community wouldn't have to hurt over this. A number of lives wouldn't be taken in the process.

There was so little time to dwell on things as she stood up and turned to the filing cabinets close together against the wall. The receiver attached to the phone had been left on its side. A lot of reports that were printed out were sorted and placed into the labeled drawers. The files for missing persons was in a center drawer.

She slid it open and quickly found the manila folder with the label on the tab. It read, "MA – ME" The last name of the woman who had been attacked by what had to be someone _far more_ _vicious_ than Hayes was Markham. She sat back down in the chair as she thought she heard a male voice calling out from the receiver, "Hello, Ms. Pallantine? Are you there?"

Could that be Chief Yagami? Pallantine brought it to her ear. "Yes, I'm here. I just got a file from Missing Person's. Is this Aizawa's superior and chief of the NPA?"

"Indeed it is. I understand you require a photo of Mari Markham. Do you not have an I.D. of her already? I'd assume she would have been reported missing by now."

This man sounded older than Aizawa, but just as dedicated to helping Ms. Markham reach out to a loved one. "I'm searching for one now as we speak I don't recall anyone reporting someone by that name, but then again I was not present at the time," Pallantine explained to Yagami. "There are days when I'm out on patrol, and days when I take over for a receptionist."

She knew what he was going to ask her next, so she added, "And no, I have not heard anything about this while I was on patrol." As she skimmed through the names, she asked Yagami, "How recent was the attack and kidnapping, sir?"

"Today, over a few hours ago in the least."

"Aizawa had told me she is from Southern Maryland, but has not stated her address. Did she tell you anything, or were you just trying to contact someone for her?"

"We've been trying to call her parents and friends for the last hour. Our efforts have been unsuccessful so far."

This caused Pallantine to frown again. "That really is unusual. I remember Aizawa telling me in particular about a Jim Bolman that your son was trying to reach, but Hayes had answered. Did he tell you that I found no records of Hayes of being associated with him?"

"Yes, he did... Did you find any report for anyone missing from the Markham family? Or Jim Bolman?"

She sighed, and closed the folder before dropping it onto the desk. "I had just finished looking through to see if the woman you found had been reported missing. I don't see anyone by the last name of Markham, so I suppose no one had reported the Markhams to be missing... I'll see if I can find Bolman in missing person's."

"That was what I was going to suggest."

"I am simply most concerned that there may be organized crime, from what you and Aizawa suspect," Pallantine told him. "I am sorry to hear about your witness, and I am glad she trusts you to look after her. I'll leave the concerns about her to you, while I have mine on the entire community _over here_."

She truly felt a bit of sympathy towards this woman. The trauma she experienced must have been too much for her to bear—but _someone_ had to consider the bigger picture. Someone had to notify her unit's superiors about this, and possibly get word of this to the FBI.

Pallantine knew someone, a good and honest man who worked as an agent of the FBI.

Yagami sounded a bit weary and stressed. "I fear it may be more complicated than that. This could be more of an international organization. This could relate to human trafficking. A small group of people may have gone missing, and our only witness has lost almost a _month's_ worth of memories."

She swallowed. As this unsettled her, she immediately shoved her emotions aside and maintained her focus. "Complicated indeed, Chief Yagami." Everything the NPA chief was saying motivated her to remain active, and see to it that there won't be a _repeat_ of anyone else missing. "Until Ms. Markham can remember what happened to her, I suggest we start a search for the people you can't reach, and see if there really is what you may think it is."

Pallantine leaned back in her chair. She would also have to consider what might have resulted in the NPA calling Bill Hayes by mistake. Aizawa's call was just something she couldn't just disregard.

"Agreed," Yagami replied. "I'll list all the contacts from Mari's phone for you, first. Then I'll ask her for a photo and I.D. to give you."

* * *

Light watched Mari remove the headphones' cord from one end of her red Verizon phone, before pressing one of the buttons below what had to be a touch screen.

The lock screen appeared, and showed a picture of some sort blue and green leaf patterns as she slid a finger across the screen to make that go away to reveal her current wallpaper. It looked like an illustration of an anime character she must have liked. Light wasn't sure which anime, but he could only assume she understood his country's customs, somewhat. He remembered when she started calling him _Light-san._

The dark eyed and dark haired illustration of him in the dark coat had this solemn expression on the screen as she pressed the menu button on the lower right corner. As quickly as she could, she pressed a thumb to open up "Media Center" that showed a list of options. She selected "Picture and Video" that opened up another list. "My Videos" was what she selected next.

"Did you record these videos?" Light hoped he'd try and keep her mind from worrying about things if he could convince her to just talk about them. "What are they about?"

"They're tabletop gaming videos," she said, glancing to him. "Tabletop being another term for board games... I took a few of my mom and myself playing this card deck building game. The one video with my dad in it was when I was playing this other card game with some friends... I intended to upload these online to show some friends."

He nodded and attempted to encourage her, to engage more into a more normal, casual conversation. If anything, Light knew they _both_ needed some normalcy in the middle of all this craziness. "Your family and friends are very into board games, then? It's been forever since I played any."

Mari wasn't showing much emotion, but at least she was much more calmer than she had ever been. That was something. "Some of my friends, and it's just Mom and me in the family that are... Dad doesn't really play, since he can't see very well."

"Oh, that's right..." _That must be so hard for him to deal with_ , Light kept to himself. No, he didn't want to cause her to feel sad. It was important to help them stay on the task at hand.

"It's fine... Well, I'll show you the second one of which is of Mom and me playing the deck builder, called Ascension."

The tiny images and numbers next to them on the screen had to be the videos themselves. "All right. Let's see it."

Mari nodded, and lightly pressed on one of the images before rotating the phone sideways. "Perhaps I'll be introducing some of the games I play to you, later on."

Light looked up to see one corner of her mouth to upturn into a partial grin. "Okay, sure. I'll look forward to it," he replied, and then looked back at the screen, leaning in to see Mari's hand turning this plastic bag of what looked like gems upside down. Altogether, they spilled out into a pile on what a light brown game board. Cards with different illustrations were also on it, arranged into these different stacks to the side farthest from where Mari was holding the phone, in camcorder mode.

"These represent honor," Mari said in the video, narrating. "Victory points." He saw her picking up a small clear gem piece on the screen. "This is one." She put it down, and then pointed to one of the bigger red gems in the pile. "And these are five honor each." From there, he heard her narrate about a row of cards of what was told as the center row. There were another pair of hands setting that up; her mother's, right?

Mari in the video slowly moved the camera. Her mother's face was off to the far left, and Light could definitely tell it was her. They looked alike in facial features, but her hair was darker, and she looked a bit older than Mari. "Your mom's name is Linda, right?" In Mari's phone contacts, one of them was listed as Linda Markham.

"Yeah."

"I see she wears glasses." _Is her vision going bad too?_

"She only needs them for reading small print," Mari said to him. "The printed text on all the cards, for example."

They listened to more of the video. Light heard Mari in it explain about the card arrangement. The piles to the far side were the "always available" piles. The one known as the cultist card, that represented one of the enemies to battle in this game, for instance always stayed where it was. Each time the cultist was defeated, he would stay right where he was as the player who defeated him would get one of those little clear gems. In the center row, there were monsters to defeat. There were also hero cards or weapon cards to purchase, but with what?

"How do you purchase the heroes and weapons?" Light asked. He was only curious, for this Ascension game looked a little interesting. It wasn't like the kinds of card games two friends of his from school played; that Poke'mon trading game, or just regular poker. Or rummy.

Soon, she pressed on the screen to go back to the menus. "We could always watch the rest of this later... You get heroes and the constructs with rune cards. The mystic and apprentice cards are the most basic ones. Runes are the game's currency."

"Not the honor gems?"

"No. Those are just victory points."

"Oh, okay." He looked up from the phone to her. "So...what's the object of the game, Mari-san? Is this like a trading card game?"

Mari looked to him, raising a brow in interest. "You're into those?"

"No, but I know people at school who are into Poke'mon cards."

"Ah... A long time ago I was too, but that was just a passing fad. I lost interest after some months later, after I first started collecting some of the cards." She slightly grinned to herself in amusement. "Anyways... Ascension is just a deck builder game. There's different base versions, and there are some expansions too. All cards stay with everything that comes in the boxes, and the way to win is to be the first with the most honor gems. Like, with just two people, you play until someone gets up to sixty honor."

Light nodded, believing he understood _somewhat_. "With more than two, it's less than that."

"Yeah," Mari said. "It's not hard to learn. The cards themselves, some of them, are a bit complicated, but after maybe one or two whole games you'd get the swing of it... Light-san?"

He could see a little uncertainty in her blue eyes. "Yeah?"

"...Are we friends now? I mean- _could_ we be friends?" She shrugged, trying to feign like it was no big deal, when they both knew that was not true. "I'm just wondering." She sighed. "I wouldn't mind being friends with you and Mr. Yagami, and Mr. Aizawa too."

This made him pause and consider a moment. Who was Mari to him? Surely, she was just a nice young woman who grew up in a background almost similar to his own; a loving family, a peaceful neighborhood... The case around her was definitely messed up, and he of course didn't like to see her suffering. As he felt so sorry for her, he was also very intrigued by what a challenge this case was going to be. He was also curious about this L, this detective she said she read articles about.

Right after that, he thought about it through her perspective. _Without me, Dad, and Aizawa, she would be alone. She's so far away from her friends and family..._ Yeah, he knew she needed people to support her, and watch out for her.

He didn't have to give it much thought. This made a lot of sense to him-and he already _promised_ he'd help her. No way, he couldn't just go back on his word.

"I don't see any reason why we couldn't be," Light told her, smiling a bit. "You're a good person, Mari-san. You care deeply about people. That's a quality I like about you. You're considerate of others." There was something else he felt. "I also feel like I can relate with you on some level. I understand all you're going through, too. Dad, Aizawa, and me-we're all going to do all we can to help you. You know that."

"Great. That's something I could definitely live with," she said. There were the beginnings of a real smile, as she looked grateful to him. "Thank you. I can't ever thank you enough-Light- _kun._ " Her expression then changed from eternally grateful to mild amusement-and was that a hint of mischief in her voice? "Yaaay, new friends."

He nodded, his smile an earnest one. "See? It's not so bad now. It's nice to see you're feeling better."

"Yeah, things are looking up a little..." She looked fairly relaxed and content, but then she blinked in realization. "Oh right. I think I'm supposed to show you the video with my dad in it."

"Yeah, I know," replied Light, cooly. He was remembering some small talk they had from a while ago. "But you needed a distraction first."

Mari stared at him and blinked for a split second before snickering. "Oh, that's _right_. Thanks for that." She giggled. " _Cleverrrr_ , and for a second there I thought you meant that in a naughty way."

Now she was making _him_ stare. He couldn't _believe_ she just said that. " _No_ , no. I'm not that kind of guy."

She laughed and said, "I know! I don't believe you would be. I was only messin' with ya a little."

Light was looking a little peeved, and was about to retort something possibly sardonic when the door opened. His father had come in. Light closed his mouth, and looked attentive.

Dad rose a curious brow to the goofy grin on Mari's face before it vanished, as if to ask what was going on, but he didn't. Instead, he asked, "Mari, I hope you don't mind, but I need a photo of you, or some I.D. of yours. There's a Maryland police deputy on the phone who's asking for it."

* * *

As Chief Yagami was doing his part, Pallantine started doing hers in pulling out more manila folders from the missing person's drawer. Once Yagami would return, she would tell him about the FBI agent she knew; Raye Penber. If she wasn't able to find a single report on these missing people from Mari Markham's contacts, then she would offer to contact him.


	11. Because it's Necessary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Terahlyanwe for the Kudos! (Readers, please feel free to comment, PM, and leave Kudos. I love ANY positive feedback, and I do what I can to respond to it!) 
> 
> New chapter is here! Enjoy the drama.

A wheezy laugh came from Ryuk as he leaned forward and listened to just about everything that was going on around Marianne, as close as he could without the risk of falling into the viewing hole. His big round eyes gleamed in sinister amusement as his toothy grin stretched from one ear to the other.

Humans were so _hilarious_! They were all capable of being so deceitful! Not a single one of them could _really_ be pure of heart. That was just a myth, and a _joke_ —a false hope they'd strive to live by. Just when they seem so nice to others, their true selves was what he could see once they were alone. Some humans were much more interesting when alone.

The current owner of the Death Note he released into that world, the girl Ryuk was still very interested in getting to know, seemed to only want it for herself—but she was going out of her way to keeping Light Yagami close by as the notebook was just beside her on that bed. It was laying out in the open for anyone to touch, and he had seen Light touch it _more than once_.

Marianne seemed to want the same for the kid's father and this Shuichi Aizawa, to have for company. Even if all the stuff about her life were true, she wasn't telling the _entire_ truth. She was telling them enough to have them around to help her— _ **somewhat**_. He couldn't understand what she was aiming for exactly, but he guessed she was afraid of being alone right now.

This human was a challenge to figure out. While observing her, she kept Ryuk thinking and wondering what was going to happen next, what she would do once they all left. He also remained curious about when she would start looking through the rules he wrote down. Some of his writing _was_ in English, the only language she seemed to understand to what he had observed.

 _They're all trying_ _ **so hard**_ _to help her get in touch with somebody. Looks like she's taking them for a bit of a_ _ **ride**_ _._ Ryuk chuckled. He had to wonder why it was difficult to use those little devices called cell phones to call a family member or friend. HAHA, would it really be worth a try with that laptop thing Shuichi Aizawa had mentioned earlier?! Not that he understood human technology, but nothing they made was without its limits. Their fancy toys and things would eventually break and wear down, fall apart.

And what about this L? Did Marianne really think he would be able to help them all out? Would she see her family again? Oh this was getting _really_ good! The suspense of it all!

Something **_like_ _this_** was just the thing Ryuk needed to escape this wasteland.

As much of a bummer it was to have to _wait_ four more days to go to her, to have her to tell him her big secret—as well as eat a juicy apple or two, or _three_ -at least he wasn't so bored now. His mind had become more active since he saw her appear, and she made him forget about the lazy bums who slept or gambled without really giving a damn about _anything_. He was rather occupied, and wanted to keep watching. The moping and loathing he was doing had gone away.

The others _never_ got tired of the same old mundane stuff, unlike Ryuk, for the past five years. He cheated once in a while at their games. The insane pranks he did to give them a hard time lasted only for so long. For as long as he could remember existing, Ryuk liked to stir things up, and watch to see how they would react! After he came back from the human world for the first time... The more he time he spent back in the Shinigami Realm ( _Mu_ being another name for this barren and dry landscape), the more he realized staying here was meaningless once many Shinigami began to see him as predictable.

No, he would not miss this _lame_ place where no one really lived, or had anything worthy of looking forward to other than scoring another big pile of dirty old coins during another card or dice game.

The first day of the five day wait was coming to an end as the sun on this side of the human world was setting. Marianne would have to be left alone _eventually_. Watching Light, Soichiro Yagami, Gen Suki, and Aizawa tend to her every need as she kept and felt stuff behind their backs was still amusing, yes, but he was also anticipating on what she would do once these people all had to go to their homes.

Soichiro Yagami had just come into the room to ask Marianne for identification, for whoever this Deputy Pallantine human was. Ryuk chuckled again, remembering that she still hadn't given them her full last name, this being deliberate. _I'm betting she won't be revealing much to them, not anytime soon._

_Wouldn't that be even more exciting, if her family and friends_ _**were** _ _in danger?_

" 'ey, Ryuk! Is that you laughing back there?" shouted Genju, one among several Shinigami that liked to gamble a lot.

He chose to ignore him, because he knew the scrawny crab-like Shinigami would _never_ understand why he found humans so fun and so interesting. The same went for most of his kind. These beings Shinigami preyed on were in fact more than just mere prey. They lived much more complex lives than the rest of the creatures that lived. They made cities, invented sports, and did similar things Ryuk had done.

Although it didn't really matter to Ryuk on how the other Shinigami saw humans, other than a source to extend their life-spans. He just wanted _out_.

* * *

Marianne looked to Mr. Yagami. "What's going on?" She asked that question when she already knew. _The officer of the Maryland State police can't find a file on me? Is **that** it? Because I never lived in this world. I was never **born** in it..._ Inwardly she sighed, hoping it wasn't anyone from the Calvert County Sheriff's Office. Those cops weren't _real_ cops; they were bullies who sought the truth through getting a rise out of whoever it was they accused. Then they'd see them try to do something stupid and catch them in the act.

During a time when her dad was so falsely accused of sexual harassment, they automatically took the side of a young delusional woman who was cutting herself. They assumed wrong by thinking Dad was some old sick man who was only liked his job to steal opportunities to grope at women. Their investigation during the open file case was very sloppy, and they even tampered with evidence to get what they wanted...

Although, she really didn't want to start thinking about the horrible and crazy-as-hell events from years ago (in which would infuriate Light to the core, no doubt, if she talked about that), because she mainly had to pay attention to what was happening now.

Light's father was starting to look tired as he replied to her. "No one in Maryland has reported you, or your family, missing."

" _What_?" Light's expression of shock, and the slight raising of his voice startled Marianne a bit.

At least the head pain was suppressed most of the way. Every now and then, she'd feel a minor amount of pain. It didn't cause much more than a little annoyance, in contrast to all the stress and tension she was feeling.

There was a lot of incoming stress and nervousness, but she channeled and suppressed it to lie again, because she knew she _had to_. She needed to keep herself safe from _any_ circumstance that may lead to her own full name being written into the Death Note. Showing them any ID with her entire first name would defeat that purpose! No, she just couldn't take that risk. "H-How can that be? My family is well respected and liked in the Southern Maryland community, I _told_ you. _Someone_ has to notice we're not around."

She saw Light stand up rather quickly. He was looking between her and his father, looking both upset and serious about this.

"I don't understand it myself, but I fear that if someone, more likely a group, is behind this—"

"They may not want anyone to be found," Light finished.

Marianne tensed at this, thinking that would be so scary if a group had attacked and taken her away from her world, in addition to people she knew—then **_damn_**! She would be in so much more trouble than ever!

_No, no, stop, STOP! Can't think like that._

"What we have to ask ourselves is, why would such people do this if they didn't know who the Markham family is, or who their friends are?" Light's hands clenched into fists. He looked really bothered and stressed about this, in addition to how seriously determined he was.

"I don't even know people who would do this," Marianne said to them. She felt as if the stress and scary thoughts were trying to take up all the oxygen from her lungs. "This is so freakin' crazy..." There no getting over how so utterly mind boggling to know the world of Death Note _existed_ , that she was in the same room with Light and his dad-not _anytime soon_. Worrying more about her parents and friends from her world than she originally had wouldn't do her any good. She _knew_ this.

"There's really no time to lose." Mr. Yagami looked at her with such concern and seriousness. His words had such an urgency to them. He stepped closer and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps if we give our new ally some ID or a photo of yourself, Mari, then she will be able to tell us something."

 _L. I just have to meet L, as soon as possible_ , Marianne reminded herself. There likely wasn't going to be any complete sense of safety or security until her own massive problems would hold L's interest. Until then, she'd just have to keep doing what she was doing—no matter how much it would hurt them and herself.

She nodded a bit to Mr. Yagami, and explained to him, "I don't have a driver's license. Otherwise I wouldn't be riding the bus. I had a library card, but I misplaced it. I don't have any pictures of myself, or my family. They're at home. I only have a few friend photos, but they're not in my contacts. I'm sorry." She looked and felt so genuinely sorry. She was so sure saying everything to them wasn't going to really help keep her safe... but why was she finding it hard to have any relief in that?

The library card, that had her handwritten version of her full name on the back, was in her big dark blue wallet. The old driver's permit was too, but she just could not risk it. The chances of her dying sometime later, she believed, would be absolute. As much as she appreciated the kindness and devotion from everyone she met, there would always be this inner wall she'd put up to keep the whole truth and her paranoia confined, sealed within an invisible wall she had built.

"Do you have credit cards," Light was prompt to ask, "anything at all that might have your personal information on it?"

There were a few things with her personal information on it, and they _all_ had her full name on them. "I don't have credit cards, or debit cards even. My mom does."

"I'll need to take your picture then, Mari," Mr. Yagami informed, and got out his phone, but not after showing her a silent, solemn _I'm sorry_ look in his brown eyes.

"If my photo will help find the people I care about, then do it. I can't do nothing anyway," Marianne told him, then watched as he took her picture with his phone. Her dignity wasn't something she wasn't worried about really. Surviving and _not_ ending up killed was.

Light was looking at her as he stood there, picking at his very intelligent brain for something he might have missed as his gaze became sharper as he focused on her. Why _else_ would he be looking at her like that? Was he getting suspicious of her, or was he just trying to think about who would have gone after her, and/or her loved ones? Was he thinking of both? Marianne averted her gaze, unable to keep eye contact with him.

"I'll be right back," Mr. Yagami said, and left the room.

Light asked her, "What can you tell me about your mother's credit card information? If you don't have any personal information, then it would help a _lot_ if you told us that. Along with your address." He made sure to keep his voice leveled and calm. It was like he was trying not to stress her out worse than she already was. He looked so willing to see to it that whoever was responsible for her condition would be found, but he held no intentions of pressuring her through anything.

Marianne secretly had a deep appreciation for him being like this. She was already on her way to not let him turn into a corrupt and ultimately deceptive sociopath. _Perhaps I'm already paying him back. He saved me, so I had just saved him, didn't I?_ All she really had to worry about was finding a way back, right?

Then, with all this commotion and her current thoughts swirling around her, a most horrible thought broke through from under all the stressful and paranoid thoughts. _What if my family really is somewhere in this world? Would I have to choose between them?_

Would she have to choose between who lives and who **_dies_** if they were all in danger?

 _ **AUGH,** **NO**! **Stop it, brain**! If I start to overreact I'll NEVER stop!_ With a quick and hard mental shove, she broke away from that bad, scary thought. _There's no way to know for sure if my family really is in Death Note Earth_ , she attempted to reason with herself. If they **_were_** around, then she would know about that, very soon. She felt very sure of this.

_The sooner I meet with L, the freakin' better... I'm getting way too freaking paranoid._

"I-I know Mom only uses debit cards. The bank company provider is PNC... You know my mom's whole name, right? You saw it on my phone, Light-kun."

"Linda Markham?" He sat back down next to her, nodding. "All right... What is your home address?" His arm went around her shoulders, a gesture of comfort, applying the reassurance that everything was going to eventually be all right.

Marianne really did want to try and be good friends with him. She really did mean a lot of what she told him, now that he wasn't going to be corrupted by the damn Death Note's _evil_ powers. Things were just going to be so hard to be honest up until the point in which she could speak with L.

It was going to be just as hard after that, she knew it, to which was why she had to see L _as soon as possible._

"Thirty-sixty Peace Boulevard, down Broomes Island. Around Saint Leonard," she told him. _That's where I live. If there **is** a St. Leonard, anyway._ Lying about her home address wasn't really necessary. It wouldn't matter to Light where she lived, if he were _Kira._ All he needed to know was her whole name—to which she wasn't going to give willingly.

_But he's **not** Kira! He's not going to be! Because he's **not** going to use the Death Note to play God..._

"That should be enough," Light assured.

Mr. Yagami came back, and Marianne listened as Light repeated everything she just said.

"Yes. All right. I'll tell the deputy now," said Mr. Yagami. He left again, then asked Aizawa to be put on the phone again. He said that in Japanese, but she knew that's what he was doing because Aizawa had given him the cell phone, before going into the room.

Light stood up and moved to the table and chair the laptop was on. As Marianne peered at the screen with her good left eye—her right being near-sighted—she could see the black, red, and gold Maryland flag on the screen, along with white capital text that read "Maryland State Police" in a thin, dark, and horizontal banner.

"Let's try to contact someone on Facebook," Light suggested, rolled the table closer to them. "I'll change the language on screen to English for you."

"Thanks." There it was again, that heart-sinking feeling of heartache. Marianne knew there was a very slim to no chance of getting in touch with her Aunt Laura, Aunt Sandy, or her grandmother. The odds were against them all, for it was overall very unlikely they were in this world.

Aizawa came in, and stood there frowning at her. "How are you holding up?"

"Barely keeping it together," she admitted to him. "I'm hoping nothing else goes wrong."

"Yeah." He nodded, his expression so grim. "That goes for all of us."

_Yet all **but** everything has gone wrong for me, and I've never been on the computers in this reality._

She looked to Light, then the laptop screen. Everything was in English as Light typed in Marianne's cell phone number. Then she slowly told Light the password she _would_ use to log in to Facebook.

A sign up screen came up, underneath a dark blue message box that read, "Username and password not found."

Light sighed heavily in frustration. With all his dedication and might, he was trying to reach someone who probably- _hopefully-_ -wasn't there, in this world that had death gods and lethal, nasty notebooks. "Trying again..."

Aizawa came closer to them to see what was wrong. "Username _not found_?" From what Marianne could see, this irked him.

"Your password again, please?" Light asked Marianne, who gave it again. She logged in with a lengthy and complicated password no one would be able to guess easily.

They received the same error message.

Marianne was certain her "frustrated" response sounded convincing enough. It felt wrong to her to channel her emotions to mislead, but better safe plan could she come up with? All this internal scrambling to keep her name off so much as a _single piece_ of the Death Note was going to wear her out and bring back another splitting headache by end of this day. She just knew it. "I have to make a _new account_? And fill up the _friends and family lists_ again? Those crazy bastards!"

Light's expression had a very demanding question to it, _What the hell is going on here?!_ "What about email? Do you have anyone you could reach that way?"

"Hold on," Aizawa countered. "If someone had hacked into a computer at the Markham residence, they could have messed around with her email too... Give it a try anyway. We'll see what happens."

Light curtly nodded, his focus laser-like. "Right. Mari-san, what website do I need to go to?"

"Hotmail-dot-com," Marianne answered. She would've caused them to act suspicious if she didn't tell him. As they were on the MSN Hotmail login screen, she gave him her email address, and a different password. For most things that required her to login with an account, she used the same complicated password she used to get on Facebook. Yet, for her email, she used a different one.

An error message above the login text boxes appeared, just as she would expect.

_I hate this. So much..._

"They've really thought this through," Light said. He was mostly not happy about this, but Marianne could detect that he was intrigued too. "They clearly don't want to be followed." He pressed his lips together as he seemed to go quiet. Marianne guessed that he was going into more thought processes.

"I think we really will need L," Marianne said, in a quiet voice.

Aizawa looked at her, bewildered. " _L_? Who's that?"

There was this constant, _awful_ pit she could feel in her stomach, but she was trying to ignore it as she looked back at him. "I guess you never heard of that detective either. Light-kun and Mr. Yagami sure haven't... He's a sort of famous detective who's really good at cracking the hard cases around the world."

"We'll likely need all the help we can _get_ at this point," Light said. "This case might be too big for any one task force to solve."

Mr. Yagami came back and as usual, between him and Aizawa, they made sure the door remained closed. "I've left Deputy Pallantine up to the task of looking up the names on Mari's phone." He walked over and gave that back to her. "She also knows of a man in the FBI who may be of some help, a man named Ray Penber."

Marianne blinked, but suppressed most of the surprise she actually felt. _Whoa, Raye Penber! If I hadn't claimed ownership, Light would've eventually killed him._ "The FBI _too_? Well, I think my situation's right up their alley..."

Mr. Yagami looked to everyone. "Any luck with Facebook?" He looked to Marianne, who slowly shook her head.

"They made sure to hack into her email too," Light informed. "It's no good. We can't reach anyone." She felt his hand on her shoulder. She didn't need to see him to know he was so concerned.

She could barely look at anyone in the eye as she felt so bad for everyone. This was so depressing, and sad. She was not happy with herself for having to hide. "...Thank you for trying. I really want to do more to help right now—but I _can't_." Her voice had shrunk significantly on those last three words. Even though she felt so guilty and afraid, she still channeled what she felt into something that would direct them _away_ from anything she may believe would risk her safety. She felt rotten for each time she did so—but what else could she do to make all of this right?! There was no other plan, nothing fool-proof, nothing _safer_.

_Doesn't mean I'll quit feeling like **shit** about it anytime soon._

"Mari, don't be so hard on yourself." Mr. Yagami said this a bit sternly as he moved to sit by her on the other side of the bed, like before. What else he told her was very calm, as he put an arm around her. His maternal instincts were likely kicking in as he added, "We all understand how you feel, but regretting your past actions and trying to force yourself to remember something won't help anyone."

Marianne felt she had to nod in agreement to that sentiment. She _somewhat_ agreed with him on that. _Still can't **remember** how or why I'm here, but I have to **wait** for the memory to come back... I hate having amnesia. _

She could hear Aizawa's confidence in his assuring words. "Things look bleak and difficult now, but we've got a bit of luck on our side, with Pallantine. She's going out of our way to do what she can. She even has a connection with the _FBI_. It may take a little time, but we'll get these animals. You'll see, Mari-san." He moved to stand in front of her. "You'll see your family again. We _will_ find them. That's a promise."

_But Raye Penber wouldn't know a thing about traveling in between worlds now, **would he**?! SIGH... Although, if his fiancée Naomi knows how to get in contact with Watari..._

That was a definite possibility, a fifty-fifty chance. Yeah, that _was_ lucky, for Aizawa and Mr. Yagami to get in touch with someone who knew Raye.

"R-Right. Perhaps there is a bit of hope yet," Marianne admitted, but didn't voice her thoughts. _I hope Raye comes over here. Even better, if Naomi comes with him..._

She wasn't sure if they would come over to Japan, at least not just yet, but it was a possibility to cling onto, to hopefully get in touch with L very fast. _I think I could tell Naomi everything, as long as Light or anyone he knows aren't there..._

"I think those guys are worse than animals though," Marianne added, a tone of loathing to her voice.

"They really are..." As she looked to Light, he looked like he agreed with her, and that he had something to tell her. "Mari-san. You may feel like you're helpless, but you're not. I _don't believe_ that. You've done a _lot_ on your part. Please don't think any less of yourself... What you can't remember will have to come back eventually, but until then, you have to give yourself time to recover. Let your wound _heal_."

The guilt felt so heavy and overbearing towards these very nice people, but she was too damn _scared_ to give into it—because of Light, who was sitting there next to her. As much as she liked him as he was now, being much nicer than he originally _would have been_ , there was still a chance he could end up as Kira if she wasn't careful enough.

Even if she chose to spill the whole truth _now_ , and warned Light about testing the notebook, how would she KNOW he wouldn't go ahead and do it anyway? She didn't, and couldn't let herself imagine a worst case scenario in which she would die, or become an asset until the day came he had no use for her.

_Damn you, Ryuk!_

As her eyes moistened, she felt Mr. Yagami one-arm hug her, briefly. "This hasn't been a good day for any of us, I know...but as long as we _don't lose hope_ , we can look onward to setting things right."

"I'll call up my partner to look up something on this L. Is this detective even real?" asked Aizawa.

"I'm really sure he is," Marianne told him. She knew the tears were coming, but her voice was calm and confident enough. "I'm sure the Los Angeles Times, or any California newspaper or media, will have something on the BB Murder case I read some about."

"And what does 'BB' stand for?"

"Beyond Birthday," replied Mr. Yagami. "The alias of a vicious serial killer, from what she said... While we stay in touch with Pallantine, we could ask her to contact her FBI friend about Naomi Misora, another FBI agent who worked with him on that case."

Aizawa was attentive and ready to go do something from what Marianne noticed about his posture. "I'll see about finding an article or two about it."

She noticed Light checking his watch. "Dad, are you going to have someone sit outside the room soon?"

"That's what I'm about to do, yes," he said. "And I think it's time we head home soon. Before your mother and Sayu start to worry." Mr. Yagami looked at her, and paused a moment. "You'll need some new clothes, and shoes."

Marianne began opening the Kleenex box as she replied, "Yeah. I suppose so, and you'll need to know my sizes..." She thought about the writing tablet and pencil that was on the table, near Aizawa's laptop. "I'll write them down for you."

Aizawa began to turn the laptop around to face him, but stopped at a half turn. "We're done using the internet then, right? I'll have to return this."

"Yeah. Go ahead," she said to him before pulling out a tissue, and blowing her nose. "...Is there a trash can around here somewhere?"

Aizawa looked around the room and carried over a small trash bin she hadn't noticed before, and placed it by the end of her hospital bed.

Then he eventually left, after telling her to get well soon, and that he'd see her sometime tomorrow. Mr. Yagami stood up and called NPA headquarters for a police officer as Marianne picked up the writing tablet, and retreived a pen from her purse. Light moved the table back to where it had been, and then returned to sit down beside her. "The medicine Dr. Suki gave you seems to be working pretty good. You haven't winced once since then."

"Mhm. Just a little throb of pain every now and then. Will have to wait a while if it gets unbearable again," Marianne said. She talked as she took her time writing a list of the clothing and shoes sizes that would fit her comfortably. "Probably won't have to worry about not waking back up, 'cause I don't think I'll be able to sleep much..." She found that too true. Surely, it was going to be one miserable and long night. She wasn't looking forward to it, and she didn't want to even think about it.

"I probably won't either," he admitted. "There's no ignoring how insane and scary it's been."

"Got that right." _It couldn't have been scarier._ As Marianne was nearly done, she paused and thought about adding a few things; a Ziploc plastic bag, a hair brush, her own toothbrush, and a small backpack. With those things in mind, she wrote them under a separate list she underlined and titled, "Other Important Items." The backpack would be something to store the Death Note in. It would very much **_remain_** in there, and hidden as she was going to stay at...wherever the hell she was going to stay.

She wasn't sure, but felt nervous at the thought of it being decided for her to go into witness protection. Honestly, Marianne didn't believe she'd be up for _that_. Staying with a friend of the NPA's she probably wouldn't recognize in a secure location someplace far from here _might_ be to her advantage. Or, she might end up staying with L. He knew how not to be found, after all, and probably wouldn't have a problem having her under his protection... Right?

What about Light, Mr. Yagami, and Aizawa though? As it would be far easier to keep the murder notebook at a distance from Light to hang onto them again, a part of her wouldn't mind seeing them frequently.

"Light had been paying attention to what she was jotting down, for he quirked, "A Ziploc bag...?"

"I'll need something to keep my headphones in good condition. Don't want the soft covering to wear off... The plastic case I had for them is in my canvas bag," Marianne stated simply. _To which got left behind... Probably for the best, because **Death Note manga volume eight** is in there, too. Man, that would've gone **very badly** if he happened to see it before I woke up..._

No, she wasn't going to be thinking out that scary scenario. She didn't want to make herself freak out or feel uneasy.

Marianne glanced to him. "So, is there a spare Ziploc from your place I could use?"

"I'm sure my mother won't mind... And I think there's this old backpack my younger sister might still have." He paused and frowned a little in thought. "Unless that got thrown away."

"Thanks, Light-kun." She felt a ghost of a smile come to her lips.

His tone was relaxed, casual, and caring. "Hey, it's no problem... Anything else?"

Marianne slowly peeled the yellow lined paper off the tablet. "That's about all I can think of."

A curt nod came from Light as he took the paper and held onto it. With his other hand, he pulled out his phone, from his school jacket pocket. "I have math homework, and entrance exams to study for. Sometime after that... since we'll both be up late, would it help you cope through the night if I called?"

The offer she felt was very thoughtful and sweet of him to give. It was comforting to befriend him, sure-but at the same time she was unsure about him. In fact, she was feeling a bit of dread, and couldn't help it.

"I know _I_ wouldn't be okay about being alone, if I were in your situation." He paused a beat. "Or maybe you won't be, because I just remembered. This teacher of mine might visit later, because he felt bad about not being able to see you. He had a family emergency to go to."

This brought on a small sympathetic frown from her. "Oh, no. I hope it's not really, really bad."

"I hope the same. He didn't really say what it was; only that he had to go see his sister..." He looked a bit sad for a second, before looking back to her. "In case he may not come, I could call. If you want. I can't give you my dad's number, because calling his phone's for emergencies only. And I don't know Aizawa's number."

_I feel terrible enough. Damn it, you're going to make me cry more..._

She believed she knew why he was giving her this offer, but she had to ask anyway. As she asked Light the following question, she refused to feel the guilt this time. "Why? In case I feel scared or lonely?" That might have come off as a bit defensive, but Marianne couldn't afford to let herself care.

"Well, yeah. I believe you might be... Because today's events been really overwhelming for all of us, especially you. It's not anything one person can endure alone." The look on his face seemed to ask, _Wouldn't you?_ "Sure, the guard will be here, but he'll have to look out for anyone suspicious more than engage into conversation. Right?"

She knew he was just being there for her, and feeling bad for her, the same as his father and Aizawa-and especially because he saw her panicking quite a lot when she first woke up in this hospital room. However, if she wanted, no, _needed_ to stick with the safe plan... she would have to keep herself from getting too close to him. Right?

_But would it be such a bad thing to have someone supportive to talk to? Gah, he can read me like a book, but he's only trying to help me._

_He doesn't understand all that I'm going through. Not really. He **can't**._

"What about Dr. Suki, then? She'd be around," Marianne pointed out. "It wouldn't be all that lonely."

"Yeah, true, she'd be here at least for some of the night. There would be some nurses and doctors who might do night shifts..." Light relented. "You might not see or hear from me for quite a while though. I could come visit you a little while tomorrow after school, if you have to stay here a while longer, but then I might have to be home for dinner then have cram school."

_Oh come **on**. It's not like I'll end up talking about the Death Note to him over the phone, or anything like that. I know better than that!_

Light continued, "If you can wait until then, it's fine." He didn't seem very bothered by that, only concerned. "I just don't want leave without knowing you'll be okay. It's only right as a friend to make sure."

* * *

Ryuk chuckled. _Why does she hesitate? What is she_ _ **hiding**_ _? Something tells me she's still a bit scared of him._ Her odd behavior around him, when it was just the two of them, was something he would have to ask Marianne when he wouldn't have to wait anymore.

Around the kid's father and that Aizawa guy, she had expressed no fear towards them. Light looked like an ordinary human adolescent to Ryuk. He just could not begin to guess at it. He had to wonder again if she recognized him from somewhere-or was it just out of fright from seeing a stranger.

Nah, the latter couldn't be the case! She warmed right up to Light's dad and Aizawa rather quickly, and he couldn't really see tell of a reaction of her knowing them, even when Ryuk squinted his eyes. And Light seemed as harmless as those two older guys, and his own name didn't really sound intimidating to _him_.

_For whatever the reason, Light is_ _**part** _ _of her secret._

As he continued to watch these humans, he secretly hoped that Marianne would be left alone. She'd bring her guard down _then_ , unaware of his presence...


	12. Connections

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost totally forgot I was also posting this story on here, and not just on fanfic.net! Oops... 
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is a very awesome one.
> 
> Leave me a comment or Kudos sometime, so I'll forget to update here less. Just a thought!

The rows of low volume TV screens on the wall and oblong table in front of him were never the same exact channel as he sat crouching forward on the balls of his bare feet in a black rotating chair. A thick stack of newspapers from different parts of the world were awaiting his attention too (on another table behind him ten feet away) but right now he was listening and looking to see what would strike him as extraordinary, odd, or unusual; certain criminal activity that would challenge him to press, expand, and dissect his thought processes to obtain information he'd deem necessary to find solutions to the world's very puzzling problems. There were crimes and situations that most people wouldn't be able to easily solve or even begin to guess at. The appearing details that reached, grabbed, pulled, and held his attention— _those_ were what L Lawliet looked for and took interest in.

As he rolled a pineapple flavored lollipop in his mouth, his wide-eyed focus flitted and darted from one monitor to another in no specific order. People spoke in different dialects and various printed languages flashed on the screens. Not just that, but he furthermore saw images of foul play (from mild to ridiculous to absolutely malicious), burning buildings, wrecked or burning vehicles, raging weather storms, and people in overall distress. He'd only linger a few seconds on each of the news stations, selectively tuning in one language at a time while tuning the rest out.

The weather was definitely not something any person could control, let alone himself, so he'd skip over those reports. Nature was a respectively violent force of its own to be reckoned with, and there were meteorologists out there to warn people ahead of time to prepare for the storms, correct? Similarly, when it came to objects from space hurdling towards the planet, there wasn't much to do other than issue out the precautions for the public to take cover.

Reported accidents all by themselves without any connections to _crimes_ ; there wasn't much L could do about those either. He was certain there wasn't anything more hospital staff and police should already be well capable of when it came down to those. Individuals who took interest in those professions would be instructed to go through the required training and lessons before going out there to help others.

L spared no second glances at the careless drivers. He could come up with _multitudes_ of common reasons as to why they were being inconsiderate in less than twenty-four hours—not that he'd ever want to. Those people were far too predictable as far as he was concerned. They weren't interesting even in the slightest; just petty, selfish, stupid, and all too common in contrast to more horrible incidents people could do...

It didn't so much as matter which direction L looked, close or far away. Human beings were always arguing, scheming, deceiving, and fighting one another for as long as they've been around. This has gone on for thousands of years; several events recorded, documented, and taught in classrooms. The more common wars and crimes tended to repeat in irregular patterns. With each passing year, human beings have overtime become more malevolent and absurd. There were rare times in which L could hardly stand them.

This didn't necessarily mean L would allow individuals who were more dangerous than most make living in this world any worse than it already was—hence the reason why he dedicated himself to be the best he could be as a defender of justice.

To sort through the worst, L often put his skills to the test to go where others have failed. Testing himself against seemingly impossible odds drove him, propelled him to see each case through to the end. He'd push himself to stay active for hours to the limits his body could take, with the help of many sweets and coffee (to which also had to be sweet). The calories would burn straight to his complex thinking genius of a mind that would hunger for the truth and knowledge from the questions that swarmed and floated around. His usual sitting position sent tense signals and energies to his mind to raise his deducing skills up to its peak by approximately forty percent.

L never really wondered if he could do anything else in his life, or even considered of actually doing it. There _were_ a few times in which such thoughts have crossed his mind—but that's all they really were, just thoughts. He preferred a very flexible lifestyle, not the routines of office workers, builders, teachers, doctors, artists, and technicians. As a private investigator with a limitless fortune and supportive connections in various places around the world, he could appear to be a worker of one of another occupation or more if he had to. Almost anyone would think of it as ideal on the surface. They'd be envious of him and think of it as the most exciting and enjoyable way to live. Yet, there was more to him than met the eye, more than just the thrills and challenges...

The one other main reason why his role in the world differed so much from any other went toward the limited to almost no interaction with others. He knew his quirky habits, intellectual level, and methodical means of using caution that bordered paranoia would cause most to see him as very unusual and bizarre. L knew that too well. In return, in his own perspective, people were just... _people_. In over the years of his career, solving one elaborate crime after another, the more he would see and discover the despicable things they were capable of—the more certain he thought and felt he had to keep distance from them.

L frankly didn't care much about such a thing as social status. He believed he could do without it. He didn't mind that he was single, for he was technically "married" to his career _already_. He never cared about the labels they might give him, from shy to antisocial to hermit to guy with a stick up his ass. It was rather _them_ than himself he could not trust and feel safe around. In a general sense, most people disgusted and disturbed him. Sometimes, he felt even a slight fear of them, yet he would never let himself dwell on it because he knew the world needed someone like him to help justice prevail. As long as L was alive, evil would not win. He would persevere and stop the most corrupt and dangerous individuals from stealing, harming, and killing as much as they pleased.

As genuinely nice as it would be to have a few friends, L could never really bring himself to put enough stock in humanity to find anyone else like him. He knew that would be a hard search. He had already decided to keep doing what he knew how to do; solve crimes that challenged him, seek the answers to difficult questions, and give advice to those who asked him for it. It was the best he could do to be of service to the world.

In L's prowess, a crime fighter such as him would have many enemies, and he had known that from the very beginning, when he decided to take on this path in life. Those who believed that crime did pay preferred not to get caught, after all.

L had thoroughly thought about and considered, for his and anyone else's behalf in mind (even animals people would keep as pets), it did not surprise him as to how it led back to the untrustworthiness he's had toward the human race as a whole. In all his occasional contemplations, loathing, and disappointments about them in this chaotic and ludicrous world—he'd never exactly admit he disliked or hated them, not even to himself. In L's viewpoint, it's been both simple and complicated for him to not trust most people these days.

It was why he relied on technology, or at least a computer or other device that sent text to communicate towards most people. L often masked his voice and face to remain anonymous. He knew how to hack into computers, and scramble his voice to sound different. The reasons _why_ he'd do these things were for his own protection, and to make it difficult for anyone to track him down. Also, the power of anonymity sometimes left an intimidating impact towards those who pursued L.

The only one friend and companion he trusted and held any fondness for was a gentleman L knew too well, who was now fifty-four years old. It was this particular gentleman, in a room adjacent to where he was inside their residence, who had taken him off the streets into his orphanage so long ago at a very young age. Quillish Whammy was his name, also known as alias Watari. In fact, it was Watari who _named_ him L Lawliet. In the choosing of his last name, it was as if Watari knew L would become a detective, the best among the rest.

Before that, he was an abandoned and unwanted little boy...not that he could ever remember what kind of people his parents were. It's been so long ago. To have grown up and become who he was as an adult, the information he'd ever known about his birth parents had been too little. The ponderings and worries about who they were and why they didn't love him was something L had been over since the last of his adolescent years. As hard it had been to understand or even grasp for answers, L knew that he had lived a happy childhood. He had to thank Watari the most for that—apart from all the other teachers and peers at Whammy's House, the aforementioned orphanage L had lived in from age five to fifteen.

At fifteen, he left to start putting his prodigal problem solving skills to use toward the world outside that peaceful, interesting, safe, and happy place. Whammy's House was the sort of place that encouraged children to be at their best, to develop their skills to the fullest. The small number of teachers and staff also provided a consistency to be loving and caring toward each orphan.

Watari had been a well-loved and respected parental figure, and L's favorite teacher. He had been L's role model in growing up to be a good and honest man with well mannered intentions. (Although honesty has been a rather gray and blurry area in the detective's endeavors of crime solving, obviously...)

Every person that lived, L was certain, needed at least one person to count on at all times. For him, it was and always would be Watari. He was a friend, assistant, contact, and butler all rolled into one person. Not once did he ever complain about anything L would ask of him to do, for they both knew he would be loyal and supportive until his very last breath.

In the background behind L, Watari was heard coming quietly into the room. The door was softly closed behind him with a single click as L kept sucking the flavor out of his lollipop and viewing the twenty-six news stations to get the updates on the small number of cases L had been looking into.

One report from Paris of a criminal that L had been curious about had appeared. French was a language he was more or less fluent in, and he understood enough to listen to the anchorwoman for ten seconds about him.

_The nameless French thief that's keen for only diamonds and emeralds managed to evade all that security at_ _Cécile et Jeanne._ _What a careful and cunning person. There wasn't a single motion censor triggered there last night. I really do hope to help catch him, and meet him soon._

He moved on to hear the confirmation of Interpol catching the arsonist who had evaded surveillance cameras and the police the past few months. L had offered his advice and looked at the video footage for details they might have missed. Concerned civilians who lived in London could sleep well in knowing that Oscar Wildthron would go to prison for a very long time.

Ian Keane, the serial killer who was last seen in San Francisco—where was he now? Had he left and disappeared again? L checked Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. Just now, there was something on MSNBC about him. An American man with a polished and clean haircut was sitting at his desk as L listened to his report. "—had escaped. Adrianna Trigani, Keane's latest victim, ran towards security at Los Angeles international airport and nearly collapsed while shouting for help. Keane had been sighted shoving past several shoppers towards one of the side exits before one of the guards could successfully catch him."

It was good to hear that Ms. Trigani would live, unlike the two other women he had captured and stabbed after threatening them into giving him their life insurance money. L predicted that Keane would go into the shadows again, before being reported or sighted with a new and attractive victim.

_Mr. Keane, you are playing a very vicious game... It was by luck and chance I found you wearing a wig with a strand of hair out of place. You were moving a bit too fast and aggressively there on surveillance last Friday. Now it's only a matter of time before FBI agents Watters and Harris find you, and stop you._

Perhaps Keane was still in Los Angeles, or at least someplace in California. All police and airport security would _have_ to know what that cruel and crazy man looked like by now. Ms. Trigani L hoped would recover and tell the authorities on what Keane looked like. If Keane wanted to keep evading the law, he might have to become more creative and clever than before...

The War on Terror waged on, as usual, according to Fox News. L, for the most part, tended to stay out of the way there. He had no business to interfere much to locate the terrorists responsible for hijacking two American airplanes and crashing them into both towers of the World Trade Center. Although he could not just _ignore_ how he felt about what had happened. He was initially somewhat shocked when he saw it happen on TV-the second plane crashing and causing the entire structure to collapse in New York. Then he felt sad, then angered. He was doing all he could to keep both eyes on the world, to do all he could to help prevent turmoil like that from happening. Yet it happened when there were no eyes or ears to know anything ahead of time.

Whether it was by instinct or by principle alone, L just felt that those terrifying and vile people could not ever do this again. He had to help somehow, but indirectly.

Co-working with any militia in a war wasn't something L was exactly keen on. As horrific and tragic that day had been, September Eleventh Two-thousand-one, he only offered advice to the president or the Secretary of Defense. Getting into that any farther would be too much of a risk, given the fact that the U.S. Army and the enemy having a lot of firearms altogether. Traveling to the Middle East to do any investigation just wouldn't be safe for him, or Watari. From reading the information he looked up on concerning those nasty terrorists, there was more than one way to get blown up or shot at. Going to Iraq was alarmingly out of the question.

Not even the innocent people over there were safe, and L believed they had their own hardships to bear, not just the American civilians. Both sides had been going through a great deal of suffering. L had frowned on this, for he didn't like the fact that so many people in these two countries were scared and miserable. No, he really didn't, not one bit.

However, he had helped Sergeant John Garwood (a rather dedicated and decent man) once to locate a juvenile soldier who ever so secretly dealt drugs to a Yakuza gang that resided so far away from Garwood's base. It was through him that L had received information in order to advise Mr. Donald Johnston of Secretary of Defense and Mr. President in their search for Osama Bin Laden and his faction who were so undeniably dedicated to striking fear into the hearts of others. They'd go so far to sacrifice themselves, for September Eleventh had been proof of that.

L heard Watari's soft footfalls on the carpet, followed by him placing a plate down on the oblong table in front of him. He would get to his slice of strawberry cake in a minute.

"Thank you." His light British accent came in a soft and distant monotone as he was busy listening to a news program from Tokyo, Japan.

A high school student from a school-Daikoku Private Academy according to what he could read from the kanji at the bottom of a far right TV screen-was being interviewed about a young woman foreigner being found injured and unconscious on the school grounds. She had "come from out of nowhere", those being the exact words from this young man who looked very confused and worried over this. He said that one of Daikoku's brightest in a classroom by the unique name of Light Yagami had been quick to notify someone he called Takinawa-sensei of what he saw.

L felt the need to pause and think a moment. _Foreigner woman, unconscious on private school grounds, "out of nowhere"... Out of nowhere. It's a very odd thing to tell someone. Had her attacker left her there in a hurry, afraid to have been seen and run out of time? It's not your typical detour, to go through a private school yard..._

 _This doesn't sound like a student, teacher, or any supporting staff member. Or I could be wrong. She might be a very new transfer student or member of staff..._ L listened in partial concern about the report Ms. Yaki Tomoyo gave about the victim having a cut across her forehead. This seemed fairly serious. _I do hope she is all right now._

This incident would be something memorable to keep track of and check back on, because of that unusual term that young man had said, "out of nowhere". L knew he wouldn't forget about that.

Maybe the victim of the attack had come around by now, and spoke of her attacker to some Tokyo police officers. (Could be it more than one person behind the beating? Someone must have been carrying some knife, a piece of glass, or some other sharp object to make that cut across the forehead.) Maybe all was fine over there right now, but still, he was curious to look up more information on this story later, by newspaper...

By now, all L could taste was the bland stick in the absence of the sweet yellow sphere that was once on top. He removed it from his mouth, placing it on the table beside the china plate. Then, without looking away and going onto the next bit of news from anywhere, he picked up his silver fork and strawberry cake slice on the small china plate. It looked so good. He slowly stuck the fork into a piece of it, brought it up to his mouth, and chewed it. This was a slice of a store-bought cake. He could tell by its texture, and how cold it felt. It had been stored in the refrigerator for quite a while. "No time for baking today, Watari?"

"Apparently not," answered the older man. "The errands you gave me unfortunately took a bit too long to finish from last night. Mrs. Beatrice I'm sure has received your letter by now. All reports on solved cases have been mailed as well."

L knew his birth parents originally came from somewhere in Japan. As L never knew them, he became well accustomed to speaking the dialect Watari spoke. Why his birth parents moved to England remained to be an unknown mystery. L had stopped dwelling about them once he had turned sixteen, when he knew there was not enough room in his super-computer of a brain to do so. So many current events mattered more. The hopes of finding parents who didn't want him had died and faded away. This was an impossible dream L knew he could never hope to achieve.

He used the sideways edge of his fork to cut into the cake with ease. After taking that second bite, he told Watari, "Good to know—and I have yet to taste a terribly made strawberry cake." His words expressed the slightest amusement.

"I'd be interested to see your reaction if you ever do," Watari chortled.

L responded in continuation of his own dry humor. "For your sake, you had better hope it doesn't happen. I might have to find someone to replace you soon after." They both knew he didn't mean that as he cut off a slice with a bit of the red sweet fruit on it. (There was just no one else L could depend and trust his life on. Watari, Quillish Whammy, was irreplaceable.) "I prefer your homemade recipe, but store bought is also delicious..."

Watari remained standing behind his chair. L could hear the soft smile from his words. "Another time then, when there's less to do. Did you find anything pertaining to your two current cases?"

"The French jewelry thief remains elusive for the time being... As for Ian Keane, it's just a matter of time before someone stops him. His latest victim just escaped, so there is a ninety percent chance his face will be shown on many news stations across the United States."

"I can't see it ending well for Keane," Watari commented. "He never struck me as someone who could hold any respect towards women."

"On another matter, I may have found something new, or at least something I am curious about. A high school student in Tokyo had been interviewed. He was one among other students in a classroom at Daikoku Private Academy who saw a foreign woman injured and unconscious. 'Out of nowhere', he said, meaning the attacker has not been seen. He never saw which direction either of them had come from. Another student, Light Yagami, was quick to tell their teacher to call for paramedics." L rotated a one hundred eighty degree turn in his chair to see Watari's expression on his friend's face, and continued to eat his cake.

Watari did that frown and stroked his chin whenever he went into his thoughts. "Strange... Why didn't this student notice anything during the attack?"

"The attacker might have been dragging her body through the grounds but ran out of time, and left her there. He could have attacked her someplace abandoned. But, if there wasn't and she put up a fight..."

L thought back to the detail about a cut on her forehead, for it was starting to nag and bewilder him. _The attacker could have simply slit her throat or stabbed her with whatever sharp instrument he was using. He could have killed her quickly and efficiently, but he didn't-unless he's not experienced in killing someone... This could lead to something interesting._

The description of her arrival, the unclear attack, and unknown motive had indeed gripped L's attention. He definitely wanted to know more about this, to find out if Out of Nowhere Woman would reveal anything to the police about what happened.

Watari asked, "Shall I check the computer for anything, concerning this incident at Daikoku Academy?"

L turned back around to face the TV screens to set down his fork and plate, the slice of cake halfway eaten by now. He brought a thumb to his lower lip and started to idly rub at it. "Yes. I'd like to see if anything develops further around this woman." He stared and waited for the Tokyo news station to repeat the report. "The student on the Tokyo station also said that there was a cut across the forehead," L informed. _Why there, if not at her throat or chest?_ "I admit I am curious as to how much more unravels, that is if the victim has awoken by now."

Watari sounded startled to hear of this. "Across the _forehead_? Could the brute have wanted to _cut her head open_? That would be a horrible way to harm or kill someone."

L blinked and pressed his thumb to his lower lip a bit harder. "Indeed." He rotated his chair thirty degrees, and looked over his shoulder. Just as he heard Watari saying _that_ , before he could—this incident caused L to be curious at a twenty-seven percent increase. "Whoever the person that left her at the school may be, we can assume he's not any ordinary high school bully. No such person would hold that much of a drive or grudge to hurt someone like that."

Watari nodded. "I'll go turn the computer on then."

L nodded, and rotated to face the TV monitors once more. He decided to see if anything else as strange, interesting, and thought provoking would come up. Once there was nothing more to hold his attention, he would start sorting through the newspapers.

As he picked up one of the papers to read, the mysterious assault that took place near Daikoku Private Academy didn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

He thought of the student who noticed the woman in trouble. _Light Yagami... One of Daikoku's brightest, that student had said. Doesn't the family name translate to "eight gods"?_

Could Light Yagami have seen Ms. Out of Nowhere's attacker? Perhaps he would help explain to the police what had happened. The press would take what they could get, and it would be through them that L would be able to know what sort of awful person could have done that to her.

 _What if Light Yagami_ _ **hadn't**_ _seen the attacker?_ This thought caused L to frown as he opened to look past the front page of the Washington Post. More curious questions came to mind as he continued skimming for any interesting headlines. _Just who is this victim? Could she have done anything to cause the knife wielder to be so brutally selective on where to cut her? Clearly the person must have wanted to harm her out of hatred, or perhaps by a twisted means of compassion, whoever her attacker's supposed to be..._

* * *

Mari Markham sure was a cautious young woman. Light had never stopped noticing this about her at certain times. As he remained to have patience for her to accept or refuse his offer to call and check up on her later, he had to ask himself why. _Why_ was she hesitating? It was very clear that she trusted him as a friend, quite a bit—or at least she's been wanting to-but from the way she had questioned him... Did she not want his pity, or was it something else?

He had only been doing all he can to help her. There had been no doubt about how overwhelming and terrifying these past two hours or so have been for Mari. Light's father and Aizawa she hadn't hesitated around, not really, so what was it that made her particularly nervous around _him_? The way her eyes widened when he first introduced himself was still lodged in his memory.

It wasn't like he had done her any harm, and he had kept her from freaking out _too much_ since the time he had saw her coming around. He didn't know why all this kept bothering him, aside from the new case overall.

He had the same questions everyone else did, concerning the problem of not being able to help Mari reach someone who would worry about her. Where in the world were her parents and friends? Were these strangers Light had called part of some organized group of criminals? _Truly_? If these people were such, for what reason would any of them go through the front lawn of his school? It's not like Daikoku Academy had ever gone through anything like that before, not to his knowledge.

Again, for the umpteenth time, _why_ _hadn't he heard anything_?! Why couldn't he have seen the direction those bastards have run off to? What horrible thing had they wanted to do with Mari? What horrible things were _her loved ones_ going through?! If only he could have seen the one who had hurt her. The search to find these criminals who sickened him would be a little easier if he had been able to. They could have had one of them in their custody. Dad and Aizawa could have interrogated the person on the whereabouts of all the people on Mari's phone list Dad and himself had tried to reach.

All these questions had been pestering Light non-stop as the only witness around still could not remember who had ambushed and taken her across the world against her will.

The corners of Mari's mouth upturned ever so slightly. "Well, when it comes down to it, I wouldn't mind hearing from you later." She nodded.

He frowned in concern and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is there something wrong, Mari-san? I'm not being a bother to you in any way, am I?" Light honestly hoped not. Why would he be?

Mari blinked, then showed a real smile. "What? No. It's just... I've never met anyone quite like you before. Someone who has done so much to help me like this, I mean. I've never gone through something so _crazy_ and scary like this either. That's why I've been so uneasy and stressed... This amnesia thing has also been bothering me a lot. I've never had that before, and my long term memory is usually _very_ good."

Light felt somewhat unsure about her reply, because it didn't explain everything. Still, he tried to go with it. "I understand. I know how you feel. It must be so hard, considering your family..." He didn't allow himself to finish that sentence. They both knew she was already very upset about that. "Let's hope the memory loss doesn't last too long then, for your sake." He wrapped a comforting arm around her, and thought a moment. "If you'll let me, I'd like to help you through this to the end. It's the right thing to do. I really don't like how people can treat each other so _terribly_. It's all a crazy mess." Light felt his eyes lower, his other hand clenching into a fist. "At times, it's so hard to believe anything will get better. This world's slowly spiraling downward." He looked back to her. "I believe your situation bothers me as much as it must bother you—and it can't be through much coincidence or chance when I first noticed you had been hurt."

Mari looked startled. "R-Really?"

He had been so bored in class hours ago, hoping for something to happen; anything to break the same damn routine, day in and day out. Light didn't want to drown in the mundane. Everyone around him was getting to be so predictable, and he was just becoming more indifferent around his peers and family, little by little each day. A part of him thought he would go insane of this soon, while he felt like he was deteriorating on the inside at the same time. In addition to hearing about the daily drivel of crime and misery in this city on the way over to school that morning, he felt there was nothing worthwhile to look forward to.

He also felt that uncomfortable pit of disgust inside when he once in a while felt about people in general. He wanted to know why people had to be so cruel to each other. There was this demand on the inside to know why civilization was collapsing in on itself, even now.

Light had everything else he wanted, but he wouldn't have to worry about losing any material things. They could be replaced. It didn't matter to him. _People_ mattered.

Back in that class session of advanced literature, he wasn't sure what he wanted earlier today-but he hadn't expected to see Mari on the ground below the window, not moving.

For all the time he hadn't left her side, he realized how caring and very interesting she was. For more than one reason, she had already made an impact on him. He knew she was somewhat different from other people he knew the more he stayed near her from the rest of the afternoon to this evening. Light wasn't sure about saying _all of_ _that_ exactly, for he felt it would be dumb or inconsiderate to do so. He didn't want to end up saying the wrong thing to Mari to put an unsettling strain on their newly formed friendship.

It was as if Light was using his honest words to carefully peel back and remove the delicate and sensitive layers that caused Mari to feel uncertain or troubled around him. He honestly didn't want her to feel this way around him. How could he ever be okay with that? How could _she_ ever be okay with that?

"Yeah. It's almost like I was meant to help you, in some way." All of a sudden, he felt a little awkward. He wondered if she would laugh at him over this. "It's sort of hard to explain... I guess what I'm trying to say is this; when I saw you, I've been feeling like I had been given a purpose."

Light had almost forgotten about feeling trapped, so stuck, surrounded by the same dull things and people. He had been so busy helping Mari it had swept him away from the idle boredom that once lingered and annoyed him.

Mari's lips twitched and trembled a bit as she smiled. She looked very happy to hear what he had just told her. Her blue eyes looked like they were about to moisten again as she one-arm hugged him. "Don't ever change from who you are now, Light-kun, no matter how boring, crazy, or bad things get. Okay? Don't change for the worse." She was attempting to try contain the emotion in her voice, as if she was trying not to cry. "I really do mean that."

The conviction behind what she said surprised Light at first. The only other person who ever told him something like that had been Dad, who had once reassured him from when he was fifteen that nothing was wrong with him. He said Light shouldn't change who he was to fit in with the rest of his peers. Light had found it good advice, more or less, but he still felt like there would never be anyone whose intelligence level matched _his own_. He knew he had to pretend to laugh, smile, and be interested in what his classmates had to say. This also went toward any girl his age he decided to date, not that any of them proved to be all that interesting.

Sometimes his father was the only person who was on par with him, but he wouldn't always be home for dinner. Before today, everything he's ever known had become so routine for him, and it had driven to the point of getting tired of it all.

Now, Light felt less alone than before after Mari had spoken those words of encouragement. There was a newfound appreciation he felt toward her. He definitely felt less apart from those who he hardly related to at all-because he had _met_ her. Light believed he wouldn't have to pretend around her. He might not have to hide or dither himself down the way he had done around his schoolmates could discuss whatever topic had interested them—just _them_ , not Light in particular. Why would he ever have to do that around Mari, who worked at a bookstore and knew how to play complex card games? These traits about her told him that she was most certainly someone he'd like to know more about.

Why she would carry such a morbid looking notebook had him interested, and _irked_. Surely, there had to be _some_ reason why she had decided to keep it. Light was curious to know more there. All in due time, maybe she would tell him more about it. Not that it was of any importance, no, for he was only curious.

_Didn't she say something about writing? I almost_ _**forgot** _ _. Mari said she intends to use it for a writing journal, but she hadn't said anything why..._

What Light couldn't understand about Mari the most was why she seemed to have a bit of trouble feeling at ease around him. They both had to know she needed some people to be there for her in such terrifying and complicated circumstances. Her reasons so far _seemed_ understandable... but was there something she wasn't telling him? Was there something she held back?

_Maybe I'm over-thinking this...? I don't know. I just want to be there for her._

Light wrapped both arms around her, and patted her back softly. "Thank you. Hearing you say that means a lot, Mari-san. I don't get to hear it often."

There was a brief pause before Mari said anything in return. "That's...sad." This hesitant and hushed sentence caught Light's attention as she had a bit more to say. "One would think you would hear that often."

As they let go of each other, Light wore a wry smile. "I don't, because they already expect me not to change. Because in their eyes, I'm so perfect all the time."

This had been what he wanted them to see. However, his family would speak less and less of it. They just expected him to stay the same, but what if there came a day when he didn't _want_ to be that way anymore? Light had asked himself this every once in a while. There was just this yearning for _more_. There _had_ to be more to life than more studying, dating, and spending time with more of the same people.

Mari solemnly nodded. "That's understandable, but don't they realize _no one_ is perfect? Everyone has some sort of flaw, or bad habit. Even though a number of us strive to be perfect, no one could ever truly be."

Light felt himself inwardly jump into this discussion, head first. "That's very true... People don't see how doing so could further reveal how flawed they really are."

Mari looked to him in surprise as he said that. "The more they try, the more they make themselves miserable. They should just embrace who they are, and just be thankful for what they do have. And not worry so much about what they don't have."

Light felt himself suddenly think, _YES!_ It felt so refreshing to meet someone he could just be himself with, without holding back on anything. Had she meant to hold back her own intelligence?

He never understood why it felt like it was too much to ask to be with intelligent person, and not someone whose words are not much better than someone blowing air towards his direction. Mari wasn't someone who spoke words that wouldn't make him pay much attention.

"I get what you're saying. I want to stay at the top of my class, and have my parents proud of me, but it's been a little tiring. I can break away from it every now and then, but I know I can't slack off."

Mari nodded. "All work and no play makes Light-kun a very dull boy?" A little smile of amusement showed itself. "Something like that?"

"Yeah. Something like that, but it's more like I haven't met many people like you." He felt himself smiling a little as he recognized where Mari got the reference from. "So, you like Stephen King? I've read that book once, a long time ago. The Shining, right? I don't remember much about it now; only that I felt disturbed and unsettled about that killer when I read it."

"I'm more into some of his movies and TV series more than the books. I've seen that movie once, a long time ago. Or rather parts of it... I don't know why I haven't really picked up one of the books, apart from reading a short story I liked out of _Nightmares and Dreamscapes_. I know I've been interested to read _The Dead Zone_ , because the TV series was so _good_. I have the whole first season of it on DVD. Bought it for a bargain." Mari shrugged. "I have so much to read it's insane, and I'm a little picky on what I want to read."

"To be surrounded by so many books in a store of your own must make it very hard to choose," Light assumed. "I don't really care much for TV or movies, but I do like a good book sometimes."

"I like certain things and certain authors," Mari elaborated. "It depends on what I'm in the mood for. I know what sells, but I don't read many popular authors."

"I understand, but don't you ever get curious about what other people like? Do you ever have any problems recommending anything to your customers?" Light looked at her curiously.

Mari looked very relaxed as she talked about her job in a very casual manner. "Not really. Some genres like romance and most mysteries just aren't my cup of tea. I know Nora Roberts writes a _whole lot_ , for example. I've sold many of her books. I always make sure to have plenty of them, but I don't see myself picking one up. In running the business, I mostly just keep track of what sells."

"I don't know who Nora Roberts is," Light admitted, "but I believe you. So, you're saying you're into much mainstream. I'm not either. I'm sort of the same, when it comes to leisure reading, but some of what I had to do reports on have been good too."

Mari smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I have some copies of the books of what I read in school too. Macbeth, And Then There Were None... I can't remember what else, but I know I might want to read either of those two again one day."

When she especially mentioned that William Shakespeare title, he felt a bit excited. He realized that talking with her was proving to be a _godsend_ in comparison to the more familiar people he'd see often. She held a knowledge of books. She revealed her insight on a common topic about people in general. Right then, he wondered how she'd be at the harder topics to speak of. He wouldn't push it though, or at least not during such stressing times.

Light wouldn't mean any offense to the guys he'd walk home with from school. He also didn't mind the gossip talk coming from the girls he'd go out with _too much_. He couldn't blame them for not doing or saying much things that interested him. That's just the way they were.

Being with them just caused his brain to be on auto-pilot. Intellectual discussion just didn't really exist with most of his school chums. It seemed to be too much to ask for, to meet more people like himself.

With Mari though, he definitely could see that she was more complicated in the brain department than she had let on from when he was first getting to know her.

"You really should re-read some Shakespeare," Light suggested. His smile brightened. He knew he sounded enthusiastic about that, but it really couldn't be helped. "It helps to keep in mind of what people wrote so long ago to help understand the present, or at least that's what I think. Who wrote the other book you mentioned?"

"Agatha Christie," Mari answered. "It's a murder mystery about these people who are together in and around this big house that get killed one by one, and the murderer isn't revealed until towards the end. It's been too long since I last read it, but I remember the way this author wrote these animal-like qualities into the characters. That's what I find most memorable..." She drifted from her words and tilted her head at him, her eyes expressing slight amusement. "You like talking to me, hmm?"

She picked up her phone and started to navigate through the main menu on it.

"Of course I do. You're interesting. You're kind, intelligent, and unlike most girls I've met." He watched her press the top silver part of the round square in the center to go to the icon with the American dollar symbols on it, and paused. "You don't seem to be someone who talks a lot about guys, money, or fancy material things."

A soft chuckle came from Mari. "No, none of those are in my interests. No worries there. I've always been different from most who are the same gender as me, for as long as I can remember... I may not be the smartest or most intelligent person there is, but I get by."

She showed him where he could remember her phone number.

Light pulled out his phone from his pocket, as he saw it. "Different? How so?"

"It's already clear I'm not a girly-girl. I don't freak out over things like spiders, snakes, or other things that make most go 'Icky, _eww_!' I actually like snakes and other reptiles... Clubbing and partying around many people isn't something I'd like to do. Maybe I'd stick around a bit to see if the food is good, but other than that I wouldn't have any other reason to stay."

Light was mid-way through putting her number to save into his. He stopped to glance at her. "Parties aren't that interesting at all. I mean, what's the point?"

"I know, right? I've seen enough of that recklessness on the commercials advertising dumb drama shows in America I just ignore. No thanks. I'll just pass on the booze and intercourse." She looked up from her phone and grinned a little at him. "Isn't this a common trait for introverts though? We're only a minority while the majority seems extroverted. Not that I don't intend to offend anybody. They can go have their fun and be energized with others. They just can't convert us to be like them."

Light relaxed his smile. "Oh absolutely. I'm really an introvert though. I have a lot of friends, but I don't feel comfortable in large groups, the same as you."

He finished saving her number into his list of contacts as Mari had something to counter-point what he said. "Shyness isn't necessarily equal to introversion, Light-kun. It's more about the energy than how confident or timid you are around people. There _can_ be shy extroverts, as well as social introverts. This guy I once knew was a shy extrovert, of sorts."

Light had to consider this for a moment, for what she just mentioned seemed to contrast with what they had agreed on earlier. This discussion he relished was going into a different direction. "A shy extrovert. Seriously?"

"He got uncomfortable and shy sometimes when I'd let my parents know about some things we did together. Not that I understood why, but that was almost nothing compared to his other issues I couldn't help him with."

Before Light could ask anything more, they both noticed Dad coming back into the room. "I hope I didn't keep anyone waiting too long." He looked between them and continued, "The guard will be on his way. I'm going to wait in the lobby for him, so I can show him the way to your room, Mari."

"Okay," she replied. "Thanks."

He looked to Light next. "I told your mother to set aside something for you, once you return home. I realize you'll have to study for your entrance exam soon, but I suppose you don't mind staying a while longer."

"No, not at all," he answered Dad. "It's fine. I'm rather confident about passing the exam."

Light felt Mari patting his head a little as her words came out a bit cheerfully. "It's all good. Your golden boy is such a sweet guy, Mr. Yagami. He _likes_ being here with me, for we've been indulging on some interesting conversation."

He moved her hand away, slightly embarrassed. _Golden boy_? He sincerely hoped she wasn't going to start calling him that again.

Dad smiled. "Dare I ask; what have you two been discussing? Nothing to cause a bad influence on my son, I hope." His tone of voice had a faint note of amusement to it.

"No, _nooo_! I wouldn't want him to go bad." Mari sounded a bit comical and silly here. "Not at all! He's awesome just the way he is. We've only been talking about good old books, introversion, and extroversion so far."

"As she said, it's been interesting." There wasn't much that Light could think of to say as he smiled. _Is this what she's usually like? It must be..._

"Sounds quite involving," Dad replied. "I'm glad the hear the two of you are getting along."

"Maybe you could join us sometime, whenever you're less busy," Mari offered, before glancing to Light. "You wouldn't mind, right?"

"No, of course not."

"I'd better head back," Light's father said, "but before I do-Mari, I'll be sending over a nice colleague of mine to provide you company for a while. On my way back, I spoke with Dr. Suki. She told me you'll be staying the night."

"Yeah. I have a concussion," Mari told him. Her playful smile had quickly dissolved to a small frown of annoyance. "I'll be staying up late tonight."

"Which is why I'll be sending a colleague of mine to help keep you awake a while. He's a very kind and bright young man, someone I'm sure you will easily get along with."

Mari looked at him curiously. "Ohhh? Who's that?"

"His name is Touta Matsuda."


	13. At Their Limits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incoming some creepy content in this chapter... It's time to reveal a piece of the puzzle of what happened to my Sim person. It's a little piece of her back-story just before ending up unconscious on the front lawn of Daikoku Academy. I've also included a bit of past back-story about life way before that Wednesday. It's based on something true about someone I had met. I don't mind mentioning it in narrative form here, because I've been over him for a long while now. The guy was someone I couldn't get along with.

Marianne noticed Light smiling and nodding, as if to approve on whom his father had chosen to send. "Yeah, he's really nice. I would have recommended him too."

"Just the right kind of person to be with after a long rough day, yeah?" _Matsudaaaa!_ _ **Awesome**_ , she thought in excitement. She suppressed most of it back. "I'll look forward to meeting him then."

In the fandom (that she used to know as only a fandom, before today) she had always known him to be one of her favorite minor characters—aside from Aizawa, and Soichiro Yagami who was standing there in front of Light and herself.

She knew Matsuda was a funny, awkward, and carefree kind of guy. Meeting him in person would be a _really_ nice and much needed break from all the terror and craziness. All her emotions, contained thoughts, and overall realizations about this popular fandom being real altogether was getting to be _exhausting_ at this point. Marianne felt like she might keel over on the bed very soon.

Enduring what would by an _annoying_ concussion wasn't going to be so bad after all! A very positive and easily likable person, Matsuda, was coming to visit her.

She couldn't act like she _knew_ Matsuda, of course. That would cause Light and Mr. Yagami to get suspicious. No, she couldn't have that. The only makeshift plan to stay safe would be in danger. One little slip, in her strong opinion, could lead to her only plan crumbling to pieces. That great big step she made to prevent Kira from happening had been enough of a weight to hide. All the secrecy and convincing little lies in addition to this made a very heavy weight altogether.

_I can't even think about how Mom and Dad must be doing right now. It can't be good, I know that…_

_Stop thinking about them right now._ _ **Stop it**_ , Marianne scolded herself. _There's nothing much I can do for them—except stay alive and sane._ As this wasn't sitting well with her, it was the truth. The more time she'd use to worry about what her parents were going through, the harder it would become to keep herself together, keep an eye on the Death Note on the bed near them, and take any chance to go see L _**without**_ endangering herself. Worrying about Mom and Dad too much would only be a distraction, a possibly hazardous one at that.

No matter how wrong it felt, this security blanket of little lies and secrets was all she had right now. It wasn't very comforting or soft, but she had been clinging onto it for over an hour or two.

Even with how sweet and selfless Light had been toward her so far, she would still have to tread through _carefully_. On the other hand, this wasn't just about protecting herself anymore. She wanted to help Light stay the way he was. What she said to Mr. Yagami about not wanting Light to go bad—she had whole-heartedly _meant_ that. There was definitely _**no way**_ she could allow Light to write into the Death Note! This wonderful person would be gone _forever_ if that happened! Ryuk wasn't going to have the satisfaction of having Light turn into the scary-smart serial killer she read about and watched online. Marianne had already made her silent vow not to let _**anyone**_ write on its pages.

The security blanket, in that way, could be shared.

If—no, not if, _**never**_ if. _When_! _Whenever_ Marianne made it back to her own reality, alive and sanity intact, would she watch more of the anime online ever again? Would she continue reading through the manga again, knowing that her arrival has changed things around?

What if being here would forever change the books and anime back in her world? Obviously, this wasn't just a fandom to her anymore. Ever since she woke up and saw Light Yagami as _a real person_ , this hit her so damn hard that she found herself unable to deny it being real.

"I really appreciate this, Mr. Yagami. Thank you." She managed to settle down. She allowed herself to be calmly happy about Matsuda. The rush of giddiness she felt had sadly died, no thanks to her interfering and _nagging_ thoughts.

"It's no trouble," he said. "Matsuda agreed that it would be dishonorable and ill-mannered of us to let you be here to endure a concussion alone."

 _You people are too nice_. This she had said to them before. In her _head_ , this refused to go away. It was almost becoming a mantra, and it continued to have her feel like her principles were being violated. She had been so deliberate to taint her own sense of right and wrong, all for a good cause, but it's felt so against the grain towards her comfort zone at the same time.

Another nudge of guilt was attempting to surface in Marianne's not very neat pile of thoughts and emotions. She rejected it this time.

"I'll also call to check up on Mari-chan later," Light said to his father. He sounded so casual and kind about that. "After I finish my homework."

Marianne grinned in a bit at his change of honorific. It was so crystal-clear to see Light enthusiastic and pleasant about the start of their friendship. She saw how easy it was for him to perceive her understanding to his problems of striving to be perfect and finding his place among his peers. It took only a little effort from her to realize why Light had brooded or moped to himself time and time again.

The bond they had formed was turning out to be a lot better than Light being _Kira_ , and Marianne being so afraid of him. She had just gotten to know him a little better as just a person, just a high school kid who felt a little out of place. She even felt sympathetic toward him, and he noticed that.

While they had talked, Marianne briefly recalled about her own desire to really connect with at least _one_ person on a lot of things, not just a few to only a handful of them. Once the friendship gone wrong with that somewhat shy yet overall extreme extrovert came to an end, she had wanted to surround herself with better company. The guy, Jeffrey was his name, deep down had been a shallow, pushy, and selfish jerk to her. (His last name was long and started with an A, and that was she could remember about it.) He didn't understand her, and didn't try to enough. She understood him well enough to know they had to go their own separate ways. Their hearts and minds worked opposite of each other. Their agendas and goals did not match up. He also had these strong feelings toward her to which she could never return because he was too forward in his approach.

Marianne almost told Light these specifics about Jeffrey, but then again, maybe it would be better to got into detail about him another day...

Still, when Marianne had participated in an earlier conversation with Light, she felt very convinced that he was also searching for someone to connect with, to be with on leveled ground. In listening to him, she sort of saw herself in him; someone who wanted to share common interests and feel more at ease in one's own skin around another person. She believed it to be an unquestionably eye-opening experience.

Due to the fact that they had similar interests and similar social yearnings, she felt like she _had_ to protect Light from the horrible and overbearing path of darkness and destruction that came with writing name after name after name into the murder notebook. _He's_ _ **seventeen**_ _anyway! So young!_

Her own common sense however counter-pointed that she still ought to be careful and not _fully_ allow herself to be close to him, or the NPA members she met. This meant distancing herself a bit from Matsuda as well.

Even if she decided to have Matsuda promise not to tell, there was still a risk in which Light could get suspicious. All possible paths that would lead to him becoming Kira could _never_ be opened. If she was going to protect these good people she met from what she knew, then this had to be done. She would have to do her best to think ahead and _wait_. Most of what she was going to have to do involved a great damn _**deal**_ of waiting. It would have to take a _lot_ of patience to take what opening she could to get in touch with L.

Waiting for her lost memories to come around was going to be harder for her to do, but that didn't mean she would have to cope through that alone. The support from Aizawa, Light, Mr. Yagami, Dr. Suki, and eventually Matsuda would something she'd need...

Until the time came when she would meet L and spill the beans, a small bit of space would have to remain between them all. Having to hide and say little lies was weighing her down. She knew that. As much as she dreaded having to apologize a lot later, she still didn't have any other plan that was one hundred percent safe. The scary murder notebook wasn't something to be taken lightly at all. It most certainly _wasn't_ _**a toy**_. It was nothing more than a complicated, nasty weapon, the worst kind for any person to wield.

She believed Ryuk would stay up in the Shinigami Realm as long as no one killed anybody with it. As bored as he was, she knew the only way to keep anyone from going crazy over the Death Note was to be its owner. Marianne was the only person who knew better than anyone else, for she knew the consequences. Anyone who knew the fandom through towards the end knew Ryuk wrote Light's name down into his notebook, after it was known by everyone that he had been outwitted Near, and outnumbered by the SPK and the Japanese task force. Marianne was too careful and too scared to write into the notebook, _period_. She didn't need to think about any of this. The knowledge of the original storyline was something she knew well enough to avoid _certain death_.

Going back home was top priority. Getting back would require help from clever thinkers such as L, and even Light—once she met with L _first_.

Marianne knew she had to keep the notebook hidden or close to her in the meantime, and away from prying eyes. There was also the need to spare Light from walking a long and winding downward spiral into an entrapment of deception, insanity, and death. No rules were available to go against any of this. Otherwise, wouldn't have that crazy person or thing—whatever—that brought her here shown up and _told her_ , or at least _**warned**_ her?

Oh well, it was already too late now! There was no changing her mind. She had already decided a while back, when Light had practically _saved_ _ **her**_ _life_. Their earlier small talk had just confirmed her decision. He was her friend. He had been her friend from _the beginning the moment she woke up in this hospital_ , even though he didn't know her very well, not yet anyway. For the entire time she's been in this hospital room so far, he remained to be on her side.

He had been right on her helping him if he was the one who was hurt, and amnesic. She would repay him for his kindness-throught what she was doing now.

Even if Light had been hurt like her, and was already Kira—she'd most likely help him, and somehow get rid of Ryuk and the Death Note for him in the process if possible, because that's just the kind of person Marianne was. She believed in second chances, and that no one was born and fated to be bad. (In _that_ case, Ohba and his artistic co-creator, Taskeshi Obata, could suck it up and _deal with it_. Hell, they'd be _shocked_ if they ever found out what she knew...)

"Sometime soon, we'll all have to think about where Mari will be staying, once she is fine enough to leave here," Mr. Yagami suggested.

Marianne shrugged, almost nonchalant as she spoke. "Not at a hotel, right? I know I wouldn't have enough American money to exchange into Yen on paying rent for a room for very long..."

"No, we're definitely not going to do that," Light said. His voice carried a great deal of concern as she once again recognized his look of determination. Inwardly, she started to address it as the Determined Hero Look. She'd seen that look time and time again, whenever he wanted to or just plain _stepped up_ to do something right. "There are some very bad people who could still be looking for you, so we'll have to make sure you're protected at all times."

"He's right," Mr. Yagami agreed. "We'll have to decide on a very secure location. Don't worry about paying any money. We won't require that from you at all."

A full minute of silence had passed by between all three of them to try and come up with any idea. She looked away from Mr. Yagami to try and think.

Marianne obviously knew who she'd stay somewhere safe with; L and Watari. No one was around to get in touch with Watari right now, unfortunately. Clearly, no, that wasn't an option.

She really wasn't so sure about staying with anyone else though, since the fact of carrying the Death Note around would make her continue to be nervous and paranoid. She _definitely_ didn't want _any_ kids getting their hands on it and writing in it, so Aizawa was definitely out because he had a little girl. Marianne wasn't sure how young Aizawa's daughter was, but no notebook of death was going to taint a little girl's life. _**No**_ , that would be so awful. Marianne firmly told herself to think no further there.

Staying with the Yagami family was most definitely out. The idea of the idle Death Note and Light Yagami in the same building as she was… no, the very _notion_ of that concept deeply unsettled her. Hell no—that was a flat-out _disaster_ _**waiting to happen**_! Everything she had carefully set to prevent would blow up _in her face_! Her fears of a worst-case scenario would come true.

Marianne's luck could only go so far. It would surely run out if she and the Death Note stayed at the Yagami residence. Light had assumed the notebook was hers. It hadn't been seen to him as abandoned. She had shown up next to it, and later _grabbed_ that chance to claim ownership when he had asked her about it.

She of course meant no ill intentions at all towards Light and his family in hopes of not staying with them. She just wanted them safe from the notebook's subtle and mysterious seduction to _madness_ and _murderous intent_. Keeping the Death Note as far away as possible from Light from now on would be a  _ **brilliant**_ idea.

_Maybe I could stay with Matsuda. Or maybe_ _**Mogi** _ _? Mogi, from what I remember, isn't exactly one to approach and ask questions. Not unless he'd have a reason to..._

Neither of them had families, right? Did either of them live far from the Yagami residence? This would be something to ask Matsuda about once he would arrive. _Yes!_ _ **THANK YOU**_ _, Mr. Yagami_ , she praised. _Thank you for calling him!_

After the short period of silence, Mr. Yagami said, "We have the rest of the night to think about it. There's no need to make any decisions right now." His eyes moved to Marianne as he added, "For now, you should just try to relax. We'll do all we can to help you get through to tomorrow morning."

She nodded to agree with him on that point, and then attentively focused on Light. His head was lowered in thought. Light seemed to be thinking hard on a safe place for her before he stopped and innocently noticed her watching him.

A quiet sigh came from Mr. Yagami. "I'd better head back to the lobby, and see if the guard has arrived." There was a tired kind smile he wore in front of Marianne. Obviously it's been a very hectic and hard for everyone, and it was starting to show on the man. "I'll return with him shortly."

"All right. See you then," Marianne replied. Her smile to him felt small and much too calm. Deep inside, she felt just about as drained as he looked. She was worn out from all her stress, panicking, and paranoid thinking altogether.

He had already opened the door as he glanced over his shoulder towards his son. "Light, I assume you'd like to remain here until it's time to leave. I'll give you a ride home by then."

She saw Light show Mr. Yagami a low-key smile. "Thanks, Dad."

As Mr. Yagami closed the door, Light frowned a bit as he looked to her. "You wearing out?"

"Yep," Marianne admitted. "From all the stress and freaking out that's happened, it's taken quite a toll. Mental and emotional drainage going on right now." She breathed out a sigh.

Light placed a hand on her upper back. His words melded together to come out as kind and understanding. "Maybe it's best to reserve what energy you have, for Matsuda-san. I don't know him well, but I know threre's a _lot_ of energy that comes with his personality, sometimes."

This caused her to chuckle a bit. "I see." _Matsuda's a bit of a goofball too. Can't forget about that! It'd be less fun if I sat here like a bump on a log around him..._

It was right about now that her bladder demanded she had better go use the ladies' room. The large sip of water she drank earlier must had run its course through her digestive system. "Now, where is the… oh." There was an open door that showed a small lit room that was the restroom. She slid off the hospital mattress steadily onto her feet in flip-flops. Marianne glanced to Light, giving him a small smile. "Be right back. Gotta use the toilet."

Light gave her a curt nod, his expression more or less matching her own.

Marianne turned and walked right into the small room that wasn't much of a walk at all—only about ten paces. She closed the door and started to unbutton and unzip her jeans. As she did this, she let her mind wander a bit. Had Aizawa found anything on L, or the BB Murder Case in particular? Not that she read that light novel, but whatever little curiosity Marianne had on reading it had died. This crazy serial killer L and Naomi pursued, from what she remembered reading on the Death Note Wiki site, _existed_. If Naomi Misora, Mello (who she remembered reading was supposed to be narrator), and L were real, then so was Beyond Birthday.

_Beyond Birthday; that's got to be the weirdest alias or name ever. I'm sure Aizawa must be thinking the very same thing right now…_

Marianne was facing a small mirror that clearly showed the big beige bandage wrapped around her head. Nearly the entire top of her head was wrapped up, covering around her forehead as well—a few inches over her eyebrows. An egg shaped hole was what she noticed the very top of her head. Her dark brown thick curls there were partially seen. The whites of her eyes looked a little pinkish from all her tears. She saw her own lips frowning when her half-mope of an expression was looking back at her. _This has been one_ _ **hell**_ _of a crazy day. No one in my world is going to believe me._ She turned away from the mirror, sighing softly to herself. _Would Mom and Dad ever believe me? How would I ever get back there, anyway?_

_There's got to be a way! If there was a way for me to end up in this world, then there has to be a way back._

While on the toilet, blue jeans and underwear around her feet, she found herself wondering what may have happened to cause her to be on the school grounds below Light's classroom window. Was there really some psycho or prankster with a world-traveling machine lurking around? Was it some kind of creature or deity?

What was so noticeable or special about her, from the viewpoint of someone or something beyond her understanding? Anyone who didn't know her wouldn't glance at her twice, whether or not they'd say hello. On appearance alone, she was average and ordinary. She most certainly wasn't the most attractive of women, or ugliest. Sure, she was a little overweight, but she wasn't bothered by it...

Maybe the prankster's way of thinking was too different and complicated from the way she thought about things. Going over that too much about this would only tempt a new and horrible headache to settle in, perhaps worse than the one she had earlier. Marianne wasn't sure on how much time had passed since she took the first two pills from that little paper bag Dr. Suki gave her. She didn't look and pay attention to what time it was on either one of her phones.

Did the sick prankster at least _know_ that she held a fondness for the Death Note fandom? Did he, she, or _it_ think this would be _**fun**_? Was this prankster as twisted as she knew _Ryuk_ was? _If he, she, or it knows about Ryuk, wouldn't they by laughing and talking about me, from above?_ That very thought caused Marianne to grimace a little. _Yeah, that's right. Pick on poor little me. Poor trapped, confused, scared_ _ **me**_ _!_

Her own imagination took another turn to think about it in another way. What if this was some kind of experiment, and she had been somehow selected as a guinea pig? What if the futuristic scientists or _aliens_ just wanted to see what she would do, and take notes as they observed her through some... crystal ball? _No, maybe it's a viewing portal, or tiny advanced tech implants inside me that displays what I hear and see..._

 _ **AUGH**_ _._ She face-palmed. _This would be a good time to say, "Hey. You've been watching and reading too much sci-fi and fantasy!"_ Marianne moved her hand away, sighed to herself in annoyance, and added an additional thought. _Maybe if I_ _ **wait**_ _for this amnesia to go the hell away, then I would_ _ **know**_ _all I need to know_.

It still _sucked_ not knowing though! Amnesia was scary. Her rather good memory was something she never took for granted, but being incapable to remember certain ones had proven to be so unnerving and strange. The heavy blow to her head _had_ to have done it. There was also some kind of emotional block or something that had these important memories locked and sealed away inside her brain, according to what Dr. Suki had explained.

_I don't care how bad, freaky, or terrifying those memories are. I just want them_ _**back** _ _. The way back home might be there…_

As Marianne found herself sulking, her eyes drifted and lowered to look at the floor. She noticed a really small dark thing jutting out of her right hip, just underneath her t-shirt, from the lower right corner within her range of sight. She blinked. _What…?_ Carefully, she touched it. It sort of felt like a fingernail. As her fingertips very gently felt along it, the thing actually was a bit thicker than a human fingernail. It felt more like a _claw_.

 _Very_ carefully, she began to remove it. There was a little pinch she felt as she gently tugged and slowly pulled it out. Then she brought this little ebony claw up to her eye level to examine it up close. Marianne noticed that the needle sharp hooked tip curved sort of like a cat's claw. That's what came to mind first, a cat's claw, but it looked wrong. Along its curvy edge, she noticed these tiny little notches that thankfully _hadn't_ been in her skin—for she would have felt more than just a needle-like pinch. The very small black claw was serrated and there was just a teeny bit of her blood on the tip. In density, there was a bit more weight and size to it than an actual cat's claw.

Marianne lifted her shirt again to see the miniscule puncture mark where she removed the claw. No blood came oozing out but there was a tiny dot of it she could see. She knew that if she pressed two fingers around the mark, it would.

She couldn't tell which animal would have natural weapons like this, and she _did_ hold some knowledge of animals. She liked most species of them in general. Whatever species had claws like these, however, had her stumped.

As she examined the claw she held again, not letting that pointed hook or serrated edge cut into her fingertips, the bigger and lower part of the claw looked like it had split or cracked off.

_Holy shit, what kind of animal has this...? Why was it attacking me?_

Worriedly, Marianne looked to her other hip. Another little dark claw was sticking out—the same way the first one had. She removed it with just as much care she applied to the first one she placed on the edge of the sink. She put the second one right next to it. _I better let Light know about this. This has got to be a sort of_ _ **CLUE**_ _! It HAS to be!_

_So scary. This is so_ _**freaking** _ _scary... Did somebody_ _**sic** _ _their exotic pet on me? Is that what happened? Is it just those two claws? I'd better check and see for more…_

Marianne lifted up her shirt to see two horizontally thin and red scratch lines on her belly. The blood had dried but the marks still looked like she had survived through some freak animal attack _today_. Two more of those claws were sticking out from the ends of the lines, by the hooked tips _. Oh my_ _ **god**_ _, what could have done this? It can't be any kind of cat_ _ **at ALL**_ _because their claws are rather close together, and they're_ _ **NOT**_ _serrated!_

_Wait. Come to think of it, these have more of a hook, sort of like_ _**meat hooks** _ _. These actually like the tips of_ _**talons** _ _! They feel thicker and look a bit harder to break, or clip..._

_What_ the _hell_ could have talons like this? She couldn't recall any kind of bird of prey that did—and she really _liked_ birds!

She carefully removed the two talons from her belly, feeling the repeated pointy pinch from each one. Two very thin drops of blood were sluggish to dribble out.

Marianne finished up on the toilet, and then quickly pressed down on the handle bar to flush it. Her pants and underwear was still a pile around her feet as she checked her legs; nothing there. The were _more_ of them she could feel, from behind her right hip and the right side of her back, once she moved a hand under her shirt from the back. When she ever so lightly pressed a finger to the thick part of the talon behind the hip, she felt more than a pinch of pain. Marianne inhaled sharply as she felt it.

"Oh god," she choked out.

Was it some kind of _mutant_ animal? A flock of mutant birds, or something?! _Did someone take off my shirt, and-_

"Mari-chan?" Light's concerned voice came from the other side of the closed door.

Marianne forcefully dismissed her terrifying thoughts when his voice had interjected, and soon found a washcloth by the sink faucet. She pressed it to where the bloodied little marks were as she hurriedly pulled up her underwear and jeans. She buttoned and zipped up her jeans just as fast.

"L-Light-kun?" Her voice came out in a small stammer. "There's something..."

In the next moment, she heard Light opening the door. She looked over her shoulder to see him slowly open it. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She could feel herself shivering a bit. Cold and clammy chills were on the rise as Light opened the door all the way. "There's… There's something you should see."

He looked down and noticed her hand up the front of her shirt. The volume of his voice went up a notch as she saw a very worried expression. "Are you _all right_?"

Marianne moved to the side and looked down at the edge of the sink, the four little black claws she aligned in a row. She could hear her voice lowering and breaking in fragmented near-whispers. "I found those sticking out of me. My hips, and stomach. There's more. Up my back."

She saw Light's amber-brown eyes open so wide as he looked down from her to the four little serrated talons broken off, all the hooked tips facing one direction in a row. Then he looked at her, very worried. "Do you have any _memory_ of this? Of whatever animal this was that attacked you?" He looked again to where she had one hand up the front of her shirt. "Are you _hurt_ there?"

"Bleeding a little. It's not very serious," Marianne assured him, in spite of how shaky her own voice sounded. "I-I only felt a tiny bit of pain, nothing really bad, when I took out the first four."

She checked the white washcloth to see very little red on it, and then breathed out in relief. "It's not that bad… It's not nearly so when I took those first two out."

Light quickly lifted up the back of her shirt. "You said there's _more_ on your—" He broke off in mid sentence one split second before he sounded so shocked, and breathy. "Oh my god..."

Marianne looked over her shoulder to see his wide-eyed stare at her back. The shock she saw there meant nothing good. "Wh-what do you see?"

Light didn't seem to hear her question. "I don't understand." He shook his head. He was starting to freak out. "I would have… None of this has been making any _sense_!"

For a moment, her constant upkeep with the honorifics had slipped away. "Light?"

The soft high pitch of her voice had brought his attention back to her. His brows furrowed. She could see him looking so troubled, his eyes lowering. "The _only sound_ I heard…was your _notebook_ dropping to the ground." His worried gaze met her startled one. "My class window isn't sound proof. If there was some animal or more had been _doing this_ to you, even from yards away, I could have heard something." His gaze returned to her back. "These scratches--they look fairly _recent_ , and…" Light shook his head. "It looks very bad, Mari-chan." He looked and sounded like he was having a hard time comprehending what he was seeing.

Marianne felt herself swallow as she was trying to calm down. She figured if she would calm down, then so would Light. "I-I don't know. I can't explain it either, Light-kun. I don't even remember being attacked."

"I know." Light managed to himself under control a little as he kept looking at the scratches he spoke of a moment ago. "Does it hurt there? Those are _bigger_ looking claws, Mari-chan. They're in kind of deep."

 _B-_ _ **Bigger**_ _?!_ This absolutely wasn't any regular animal she had encountered. Her eyes felt so wide. Her heart began racing and pounding. "When I pressed real gently at the bottom one, it hurt. A-And they look like bird talons to me."

"I'd better bring back someone. A surgeon, or some specialist..." As Marianne turned around, Light began to guide her out of the small closet. It was only a quarter or so bigger than a closet.

A thought occurred to her just now. It felt like a rather good one, so she didn't hesitate to voice it. "I think I have something to put the talons in. We'd better give them all to your dad, for evidence."

"Yeah." Light was quick to agree as they both stopped, just outside the doorway.

What came next were very bad and dreadful thoughts as she faced forward, _scary_ thoughts. _What if the things are still out there? What if someone_ _ **trained**_ _some monster birds to come find me...? Why didn't I feel them in me before? Are the pain killers from Dr. Suki really that good?_

"Mari-chan."

Her friend's softer tone of voice caused Marianne to blink and turn her head to look at him. He wrapped both arms around her. She hugged him right back, so afraid.

"You're going to be okay." He said that like a promise.

She didn't like how small her voice sounded. That however was the least of her problems. A very real and unknown threat lurking around on top of everything else was just shoving her to a _breaking point_. "I hope so." She took in a deep breath as she felt her eyes welling up all over again.

She felt one of his hands on the back of her head as the other softly moved up and down her upper back as she started trembling.

"I intend to help my father and Aizawa find and stop those horrible, rotten people. We'll do all we can to help find the people you love."

Light was reasonably upset there. This she could very well understand, but the hint of anger that came from him had her tremble a bit more. When he said the word _rotten_ , she was reminded of what he had to have thought before looking out that window at Daikoku Academy. She couldn't help but feel so nervous. The Death Note and her friend that _shouldn't_ be allowed to use it were still in the _same room_ , after all. Right then, she wondered if his eyes happened to look at it.

As Marianne reminded herself of this, Marianne clung to him a bit firmer. She breathed in so sharply, and her bandaged forehead lowered to one of his shoulders. She _knew_ her thoughts came in pleading whispers. _Please don't be Kira. Please don't be Kira. Please, please,_ _ **please**_ _. Don't think about that notebook. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Just stay who you are..._

His tone became somewhat calmer, softer. She could still feel how careful he was moving his hand on her upper back, not wanting to trigger any pain. "No one's going to hurt you. Not ever again. You're safe now, Mari-chan."

A stinging pain awakened along the right side of her back. The stress and anxiety she felt was only continuing to pile up. This had to be the cause as her hands returned. Her voice sounded strained and pitchy as she lifted her head a little to tell him, "You should go find someone, Light-kun." _Please hurry._

"Right." He let go of her. "I'll be back. Just wait on the bed, okay?"

Marianne moved back towards her hospital bed, and sat down on the mattress. Her friend didn't hesitate as he exited the room and closed the door. Light fast-walked left, to what she could see through the windows on both sides of the door. As he left, she began to breathe in deeply. Her heart was beating at a medium fast pace as the pain ebbed along. She had assumed too much on the aspirin she had taken.

The head pain was slowly making a comeback too. Marianne focused to breathe in and out. She continued to do it deeply and slowly. If she could just breathe, then maybe she could calm down. _**Breathe**_ _. Just breathe_ , she told herself. _He'll be back in a minute, maybe quicker._

It wasn't long at all before Mr. Yagami came back. Two Japanese man had entered in after him. The man on the left was a tall, strong guy. He looked a bit muscular, and his hair was a light brown crew cut kind of hairstyle. Marianne did not recognize him. _The guard_ , she realized.

The man on the right wasn't as tall, and he didn't look as physically strong either. From his boyish features and his darker hair that was a little longer and finely combed (with shorter bangs), that _had_ to be Matsuda. He said something in hushed and rapid Japanese for a moment. She knew very little Japanese words, but his expression had her estimate that he was both taken back and concerned to see her.

Matsuda stepped to the side a little, and bowed his head to her in greeting.

"Mari? Where's Light?" Mr. Yagami's voice carried a bit of concern and confusion. For the first time in a while, his professionalism and stern posture as NPA chief wasn't quick to present itself. He asked her this question before Matsuda could even say anything.

"H-He went to go find a doctor, or surgeon," Marianne stammered. It was taking her a little more effort than usual to speak. "I went to the bathroom a minute ago, and found these broken talons in me. Some of them I removed."

"W-What? Talons...?" That English response came from Matsuda, who looked so shocked and confused.

She nodded, and then used a hand to wipe some of her tears away.

Mr. Yagami stared and said nothing at first. He looked completely stunned, and a bit horror-struck. She couldn't blame him, for she was very scared about this herself.

As for the guard, he looked worried and confused. He stared, but he never said anything. He then looked to Mr. Yagami, as if he would have a clue as to what was going on.

Matsuda continued to speak nervously in English, but to the man in charge. "Chief. I-I thought you said Mari-san had been captured. You never said anything about attack birds..."

"There's a l-little more to it than that, it seems," Marianne informed him. "You must be Matsuda-san, r-right?"

Mr. Yagami soon regained his composure—well, most of it at least. His voice wasn't very steady, but enough to be a strong leader for everyone. "...Where are these talons, Mari?"

"The four small ones I took out are on the sink," Marianne told him. Then, she remembered that something she suggested to his son a minute ago. "Hold on. I got... I got a small bag for you to put them in."

She grabbed the top handle of her brown and green plaid leather purse and tugged it toward her. She took hold of the two zippers of one side, and opened it. There was a small plastic bag, and the only thing that was in it was her little black USB drive that was for her old red Verizon phone's memory card. She took that out, dropped it somewhere into that big pocket she unzipped, and handed the old plastic sandwich bag to Mr. Yagami. "Here."

He took it respectfully, and then headed for the bathroom. Matsuda moved a step behind him, looking rather anxious to see the talons as well.

The guard remained standing in front of her. He spoke to her in English, his thick Asian accent deep and cautious. He spoke a little slowly. "Hello, Mari Markham-san. My name is Chiko Tekeshi."

She nodded, and felt the shaky polite smile come to her face. "My night guard, right? It's, um, nice to meet you, Tekeshi-san." Without really thinking about it, she held out her hand. The honorific she chose to address him by had sort of slipped out on short notice. Not that it mattered, for Marianne was certain Tekeshi wouldn't have minded if she had called him as _Mister Tekeshi_. It meant the same thing.

Tekeshi took hold of her hand and shook it. His grip was somewhere in between firm and gentle. The big man's mannerism matched hers equally, yet he still maintained a careful tone of voice. With care, he was making sure to pronounce his English clearly. "Nice to meet you too..." He gave her hand the gentlest squeeze before releasing. "You must have been through quite a lot. Don't worry, miss. As long as you're under my watch, no more harm will come to you tonight."

She nodded, and just stopped herself from breaking into sobs. "Thank you... I've just about had all I could stand, you see."

Before Marianne could tell Tekeshi anything else, a surprised uttering of Japanese came from the bathroom nearby; Matsuda. Distracted, Marianne looked away from Tekeshi to see how stiff his back looked. Then he looked back to her, very worried. "Mari-san, you said you took those _out_?"

Mr. Yagami moved passed him, holding the bag containing the small serrated talons Marianne had removed by herself.

She nodded to Matsuda, and swallowed. "Light-kun was really shocked when he saw the rest. Bigger ones. I'm not sure if we've found them all..."

Another throb of pain caused her to drift off her words as Mr. Yagami moved past Matsuda. "Where?"

"Right side of my back. It hurts. I think the pills I took are wearing off."

"Oh, man. This is so... science-fiction horror movie," Matsuda said. He seemed scared for her.

Marianne felt he couldn't have said it any better. "No kidding."

"Matsuda-san," Tekeshi warned. He looked at the younger NPA officer with disapproval. "We should not frighten Markham-san more than she is already."

"It's okay," she told her assigned night guard. "I'll be fine, knowing that you two will be looking out for me." It was true. The big strong guard looked like he could step in and kick some ass against any monster mutant bird her mysterious psychopath captor or captors would unleash. Matsuda was a good cop too. In knowing she would be left in their care, it had stopped her from feeling way too scared.

Mr. Yagami took a seat in the chair in front of her. "When they all come out, you could take them to someone in forensics... I'm positive that these come from some kind of bird, but I don't know what."

Light's father, the oldest of all three men, nodded. "I'll have to consult a bird expert on this."

Just as he finished replying, they all heard the door open. Light had brought over a woman that wasn't Dr. Suki. She also had dark hair that was shorter than Dr. Suki's, and she looked older. She had to be at least fifty, in seeing the little wrinkles around her mouth and under her eyes. That probably meant she had a lot more experience, but still; Marianne was not looking forward to feeling the pain of those big talons coming out. In fact, she dreaded it. The table of surgical instruments the lady rolled in included scalpels, tweezers, rubbing alcohol, and a syringe of something.

Mr. Yagami stood up and moved the chair back as Tekeshi moved to stand beside Matsuda, near the edge of the bed.

This older female in scrubs was very serious and spoke in a commanding and rough English statement. "Everyone but the girl. _Out_." She looked to Light, Tekeshi, Mr. Yagami, and Matsuda with a look that meant she'd give them hell if they didn't do as they were told.

"W-Wait. Mr. Yagami may stay," Marianne told her. "He'll need to collect the evidence." She knew that was the right thing to say, for Mr. Yagami would probably not be okay with Light witnessing what would soon happen once everyone else left the room.

Matsuda wouldn't probably be comfortable about it. No, he'd probably squirm too much, or throw up in the middle of the surgery.

Marianne didn't know Tekeshi honestly didn't know very well. He seemed responsible and ready to do his job, but Mr. Yagami was the one who would have to go back to the NPA building to turn the evidence in to forensics.

There were other reasons. She trusted him to be strong for her (she needed someone she knew who had to be), and as she considered Mr. Yagami's concerns about Light, she was sure he wouldn't want his son to see the surgery happening. Marianne didn't feel comfortable about that herself (believing she would need to take her shirt off for the talon removal), but she was mostly thinking about how Mr. Yagami would think and feel about that.

Mr. Yagami was a very mature and responsible adult. Marianne believed that she wouldn't have to worry about her modesty, or anything. He would be there to help her through this.

The woman who hadn't introduced herself softened her voice. "You sure? I could do it."

Marianne nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I trust him."

"Good luck, Mari-san," Matsuda said, encouraging. "Be brave. I'm sure you'll make it! I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay, Matsuda-san. See you later." The smile she tried to give him didn't feel right, as she still carried a lot of dread.

Light spoke assuring words. "It will be hopefully quick. That's what Dr. Hiroko told me. You won't feel much pain at all." His eyes focused to someone else in the room. "We both know my father won't let anything bad happen."

Marianne saw his father nod to her as he began to move the chair back near the bed. He seated himself and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Try to relax, Mari. We'll get through this together."

A nervous curt nod came from her to him. She gave his son one last glance, who was halfway out the door. "See you soon, Light-kun." _Here's hoping I won't bleed out and die, or receive an infection later._ She felt herself chuckle bitterly inside her head. _Here I am trying to keep you from becoming Kira when I could die of something else..._

Light looked over his shoulder as she noticed a bit of Determined Hero Look coming from him. "See you then." She watched him exit and close the door behind him.

Marianne thought back to what Mr. Yagami had said to her a minute ago, the dread and adrenaline still remaining. The pain in her back was especially unyielding. "Let's get them out."

With everyone else gone, Marianne did what had to be done without even being told to do so. She lifted her t-shirt over her head, removed it, and put it on the bed between herself and the Death Note.

"Doctor," Mr. Yagami alerted, as they both saw two smaller talons on her chest, right above where her breasts would be. He then looked towards the little scratches on her belly. The blood had already dried there, but they still looked like she hadn't been attacked very long ago.

Dr. Hiroko said to her, "Hold still. Those aren't very deep."

Marianne sat still, and stared at the hooked tips buried in a few layers of skin tissue on her chest.

She could hear Mr. Yagami shifting around in the chair. "My god..." From that, she could only assume that he had seen how awful the scratches on her back must have looked.

Marianne almost wanted to see how bad, but then again she remembered Light's words from his earlier freak out. Maybe it would be better off to just rely on the words of both Yagamis.

Right then, she knew too well about what her own parents' reactions would be if they saw serrated talons and nasty scratch wounds on her back. Although she tried not to think about that. She once more pushed all thoughts and worries about her family towards the back of her mind, where she felt they should stay—at least for a while.

Honestly, Marianne hoped they weren't in this world at all. It would be even better if all the scratches would heal up before she'd get the chance to be with them again.

"That's pretty much what Light-kun said," Marianne replied to Mr. Yagami.

"It does not look good," Dr. Hiroko seemed to agree. She sounded far more grim than the two of them together.

"Slow and careful. Very slow," Marianne advised about the smaller talons. "That's how I got the first four out."

"Did it hurt?" the doctor asked. With great care, and Marianne holding her breath, she tugged those two talons out at once.

"Only a pinch, like right now." Marianne looked down at the two red marks. They were small, no bigger than a period of a written sentence.

"Not as deep," Dr. Hiroko observed.

Marianne breathed out slowly. "Hardly deep at all."

"Hmn. Different sizes. Not all from same bird."

"Doesn't look like it."

"Death Note?"

Marianne suppressed an involuntary shiver. The doctor was curious about the murder notebook on the mattress, to her left. She was _curious_ , possibly _suspicious_.

"I, uh, kind of like unusual dark things. I'm weird like that. Don't ask," she managed to say. To her relief, Dr. Hiroko said nothing else.

Marianne glanced to Mr. Yagami, who didn't look very pleased. His face showed a restraint of disgust and anger. "The people behind this..." He didn't let himself finish that sentence.

"They're really sick," Marianne finished for him. She paused a moment, just stopping herself from shuddering. "Maybe I really don't need to remember right now."

"I suppose not," he agreed.

Dr. Hiroko, in her somewhat broken English, instructed her to lie down on her stomach, on the bed. (Perhaps she didn't have many patients from other countries to care for. That had to be why her English wasn't as good as Dr. Suki's.) Marianne shoved the Death Note under her pillows for right now. Mr. Yagami picked up her purse, headphones, and red phone to place them on the floor beside the chair he sat in.

"Lie all the way down," Dr. Hiroko said. She spoke very calmly, in a low volume.

Marianne did, most of her body all the way down onto the mattress. She raised her head to look and depend on Mr. Yagami. His warm hand on her bare shoulder was comforting.

"You'll receive small sedation. I remember; Dr. Suki said you have a concussion, Markham-san."

A small sedation didn't seem all that comforting. Marianne's voice felt a bit tight in her throat. "That's right. So, I guess I'll have to stay awake for this."

"Yes."

"There's only five," Mr. Yagami told her. "This shouldn't take long."

Marianne swallowed. _Five..._ "Okay."

She kept focusing on Dr. Yagami, as she felt Dr. Hiroko gently rub something moist onto her upper back. It smelled like rubbing alcohol. She silently told herself to take her time to breathe in and out, in... and out. In... and out.

"About to apply anesthetic," Dr. Hiroko said.

Marianne inhaled quietly. "I'm ready." She braced herself as she felt the needle prick into her upper back. It didn't really hurt, and she had no fear of needles at all. It was the pain from those serrated talons being pulled out that she wasn't looking forward to, not at all.

After Dr. Hiroko removed the syringe, she said, "Wait a moment, for sedative to take effect."

"Okay." _But no longer. Please, just get them_ _ **out**_ _. Get it over with!_

She went back to her deep breathing as that moment passed. She could feel her body going a little numb. At this, she thought, _Maybe it won't hurt as bad._

Dr. Hiroko was behind her, picking up something from the table tray on wheels according to what Marianne heard.

She felt a mild and comforting warmth from Mr. Yagami's hand moving up and down her neck and in between her shoulders. He must have noticed her laying so still on her stomach.

Soon, she felt a sharp spike of pain coming from around the base of her spine—where she had ever so slightly pressed minutes ago. It didn't hurt as much as it should have, with the knowledge of the talons having serrated edges, and Light telling her that these were bigger ones. It hurt, but not unbearably so. Marianne could feel her hands clutching at the sides of the bed. She could hear the muffle of her small voice as lowered her head down onto the mattress. "O-Ouch..."

The pain increased just a bit as she could feel it being carefully removed. From this, she could only suspect that it hurt so very bad when the talon had first entered, minus the effects of the sedative. Mr. Yagami lightly patted the back of her head.

Soon, she heard what had to be the first big talon go into the little plastic bag. The blood she felt from the deep puncture was coming out as she felt a wad cotton cloth being pressed up to it. The pull and peeling of thick tape was heard, followed by its stickiness to keep the cloth strapped down onto the wound.

_Four more to go..._

"You're doing great, Mari," came Mr. Yagami's soft encouragement.

Marianne didn't respond. She was just waiting, staying as still as she could while the doctor began to remove the next big talon, the next spike of pain, just diagonally to the right of where the first one had been. An inhale and a hiss came from her breath as the older woman was slowly removing, sliding it out. The small wound was soon covered and strapped down with a few more layers of tape.

Talons three, four, and five came next as she managed to bear through it; located just above her right hip, in the middle of her right side, and just behind her shoulder. No more tears came as the pain didn't lessen. Mr. Yagami remained as he continued saying his soothing kind words while lightly rubbing her scalp and neck. In between, she heard each horrible, awful talon go into the bag.

"Done," Dr. Hiroko said as she was pressing and taping down the final cotton soft bandage. "Your scratches must be cleaned now."

Marianne breathed out in relief.

* * *

Whatever kind of thing it was that attacked her, it certainly wasn't a _Shinigami_. It went against the rules to attempt to kill and receive the remaining life from human by other means apart from a Death Note—not that they'd ever want to. Everyone that had one knew this, and there were never any disputes. Each Shinigami, no matter how high or low their rank number was, knew this.

Their notebooks were specifically designed to act like a phantom limb while under their ownership to absorb human life-spans. Its origin and what the Death Notes looked like so long ago over the centuries (stone, scrolls, thin sheets of paper) weren't known by none other than the Shinigami King, the oldest of them all. No one really felt curious or ever even thought about how he came up with them—not even Ryuk himself. As long as they were around, nothing else about the Death Notes really mattered.

"Interesting," Ryuk had whispered to himself. There was just so much mystery to this one human. _Whatever kind of birds they are, I've never heard or seen any with talons_ _ **like that**_ _... They scratched her up pretty good, too!_

He didn't see any birdies attacking her once she appeared by where he had dropped the Death Note he took from Sidoh. He didn't even _know_ anything about it until he had seen her remove most of those little dark hooks.

He hadn't seen the attack happen! The developing curiosities about these vicious creatures would have been found out if he _**had**_. He could've kept what he saw to himself—only to reveal to Marianne Markham at a _later time_. That might have been worthwhile to see her reaction afterward; some additional, potential fun to be had but, _oh well_...

Ryuk chuckled as he watched the girl continue to interact with Soichiro Yagami and that older female doctor, Rei Hiroko. Marianne Markham was scared. She was so, _so_ scared. Would she cling to her secrets even tighter now? What else could happen from here? Just where did Light Yagami fit into all this?

_More questions. Will there always be more? Heh heh heh. Also, can't forget; she's trying very hard to keep that Death Note to herself..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why the pain in her back wasn't there until this chapter is this; there's something more to be speculated about much later on! It's not a plot hole. Just thought I'd mention that here...
> 
> Could it really be birds? What do you think had attacked poor Sim Mari? I already know, but I'm curious to read from you on what your thoughts are!
> 
> Also, check out my channel at youtube-dot-com-backslash-darkwriter00 sometime! You'll be able to see the soundtrack playlists for not just Collide but Crawl and a Death Note fan mix as well!
> 
> As Halloween approaches, I'd like to get my chills and thrills while writing the next chapter to Crawl very soon. (I already celebrated L's birthday early, bringing him sooner into this story than I originally expected.) So, with that said, it will be a while until I get the next chapter to this story done.


	14. Dissonance

Raye Penber glanced at what the choices on display were, past the glass covering on the front. He noticed his light tanned skin, dark eyes, and short dark hair to which one side on top rose a little higher than the other. Although, he was focusing much more towards the colored packages of goodies behind the glass.

The large dark box-shaped machine with labeled buttons on the side had been plugged into the wall for five days so far, located just past the lobby area within headquarters for the agency he was a member of. Beside the labeled buttons were thin dark slits that accepted one U.S. dollar in change. It was a very new, clean, and user friendly vending machine. Agent Leonard Young contributed a good amount of money into replacing the old one, for it had been his idea. In addition to the other contributors who agreed, a the newer machine had been installed over the weekend. It operated smoothly without any problems.

Leonard was an easily likeable character within H.Q. He was a considerate and compassionate man, a selfless man who had always put others before himself. He also had a quirky and lively sense of humor in which amused over a handful of other colleagues he frequently interacted with on his way to his office space, Raye included. He heard Leonard once admit that this place was almost like a second home to him. He was the kind of guy who would shine in beams of sunlight to brighten anyone's cloudy days. To Raye, he was considered as work friend.

Even Naomi Misora, the love of his life he's engaged to, had a fondness for him when she still worked for the same FBI unit. Sometimes she would ask about him whenever Raye came home at a more decent time of day. The amusing anecdotes and happenings centered around him had been reoccurring small talk.

Raye couldn't imagine him having many enemies—unless they were outlaws who despised the feds, or citizens that couldn't stand cheery and friendly people.

Although, no matter how thoughtful Leonard had been to get the new vending machine, there was still something missing. Of all the times Raye had walked by this snack machine, there still hadn't seemed to be any helpful hints or suggestions to put in multi-grain protein bars, cracker sandwiches, or something else that was a bit healthier than what was already in there. Fritos, candy bars, cookies, and white cheddar popcorn could be replaced by something that contained a little less fat and calories, right? Surely, Raye believed there were other agents besides himself who were in the least mildly concerned about their cholesterol levels and keeping a physically fit body. He had went on an assumption that someone might have brought it up in a discussion, or when passing by someone during any hour on their working days.

Raye wasn't a health nut necessarily, but he believed it to be important to stay in top form. As an experienced fed of five years, he had acquired a mindset of maintaining reasonable control over any obstacles would slow him down if there ever came a day in which he or anyone he knew found themselves in life threatening situations. Being overweight or becoming a sugar junkie were two on a mental list of things that might cause him to falter in his career. Keeping his mind and body balanced was a necessity. The assignments an FBI agent would receive didn't always take place in this building. There were days in which he would be elsewhere, depending on what the case may be.

The FBI was an organization that upheld the law for the entire nation of the United States, and that meant a great deal to Raye. There had been a few cases in which he had put his life on the line to stop some very ruthless and violent bastards from doing a mass amount of harm. It only made sense to stay fit when it came to having to move and think fast to catch the most dangerous criminals.

With all that in mind, Raye felt there was something _not right_ about having a vending machine that lacked substantially healthy foods in the feds' base of operations and investigations. This was a concern to him, and the lack of nutrition on display inside that vending machine irked him quite a bit.

 _I might have to approach someone about it_ , he considered. _Then again, Leonard might have already thought about it... Maybe wait one more day. It's not_ _ **too**_ _big of a deal, but still. We can't have any big-time slackers or weight-gainers letting the crooks have the_ _ **upper hand**_ _. Those who work hard to bring them to justice ought to have the option of purchasing something of nutritious value._

Raye turned right and moved at a casual pace towards his own office, where his partner may or may not be. That didn't matter though. He just needed to be at his computer to write up that report on Firi Marcella, a Latino con-woman who had been second in command in a group who ran an illegal weapons dealership. Raye had narrowly escaped getting shot in the head the other day because of her. She was a feisty and confident outlaw trying to get away by fleeing to Brazil with a large sum of stolen currency and a few crates that contained semi-automatic firearms. However, with risk and fast driving involved, Raye, his loyal and wise-cracker of a partner James Lucho, and some of their colleagues caught up to her. A lot of shots were fired, but no one had been killed. Thank _God_. Agent Kaelyn Bertilde, one of the bravest women he's ever known apart from his fiancé, took a bad hit in her upper arm. She was lucky the bullet hadn't pierced into any muscle tissue.

He was opening the door to the office he shared with James when he heard his cell phone ring. As he stepped in and tugged the door closed, he reached into the pocket of his gray slacks and checked the screen. His eyebrows slightly raised in surprise as he pressed "Send" and brought the phone up to his ear. "Hello, Deputy Pallantine."

Lanelle Pallantine-wasn't she the Maryland state officer? Didn't she help him on a case that dealt with that young guy who tried to get his revenge on a college teacher that molested and murdered his sister? Raye blinked as he recalled on how nasty and twisted that had been, over a year and a half ago. The teacher in particular, Sam Renshaw, was a disturbed individual. He was both a sexual predator and serial killer. James and Raye had pursued that man and arrested him. It was a long chase (with James complaining or being sarcastic some of the time), but they caught him before he could harm another woman. Raye could remember the aggression in the crook's smoke grey eyes, and what kind of gun he had; a forty-five. James had taken a nasty hit in the gut when they first went after him. Even though he needed to go to the E.R., he was not happy about having to stay and recover while Raye had to go after Renshaw alone.

Deputy Pallantine, he remembered, had some impressive knowledge about computers. He knew James was nowhere near to being a genius when it came to working with one, and had felt blown away by what she had to do to catch the kid who was currently serving some prison time. She tracked down the location as to where the perpetrator lived by following the trail of hacked activity on the websites belonging to the banks Renshaw went to cash in his paychecks. She also discovered the different false identifications the delinquent used in attempt to blackmail Renshaw, and helped Raye find Renshaw from afar while on the move to go arrest the younger criminal who had a history hacking into other websites to do whatever he pleased.

Scott Molyne, age nineteen, had been charged with identity theft and illegal usage of his laptop.

Was Pallantine still a deputy? One would think she'd get promoted by now. Well, Raye most certainly would do that if she worked under him! Also, sometime after the one case had been solved, she had offered to be of help to him again in the future. She especially offered to when it came to catching the most computer literate criminals. Most cops across the country would view FBI as competition, or nuisances for "parading onto their turf", as he overheard from a police officer in Texas. James and Raye had gotten used to such jerks. Pallantine though-she was definitely someone who wouldn't bitch or pretend to be nice. She once admitted to marching to her own drumbeat, and didn't care about having the glory of winning over any higher power of law enforcement. She was also a very good judge of character. Not long after first meeting Pallantine, she realized that both James and Raye were just doing what she thought was way more important than outshining the FBI; helping to keep the world around them a better place.

"Agent Raye Penber. It's been a while." Her response he heard was a blend of professionalism and courtesy.

"Yeah, it has." He moved to sit down at the chair behind his desk. James was elsewhere, either goofing off or going out to lunch, but Raye was certain he wouldn't mind hearing from their short-term accomplice. Raye knew James would grin and ask if Pallantine changed her mind on going out with him to dinner or a movie. He self-claimed to be a "part time flirt"-in those exact words-when it came to women. "It's been over a year since we teamed up on that case in Baltimore."

"Indeed. However, I didn't exactly call to catch up, or bring up matters of the past. Time is rather pressing, and must be put to efficient use. You've proven to be a trustworthy person to help with matters that are far more complicated than what the state police can handle alone. I'm asking for your help, or any helping hand from the FBI, if they are willing."

The way she would go right to the point was something else Raye had definitely remembered about Pallantine. Although, there was a distinct urgency to her tone that he didn't recognize as typical towards her serious, no nonsense demeanor. Yes, she was often very serious when on the job. She was as compassionate as he was, but it seemed something had happened that's caused her to not let people close, or even smile much. Only on one occasion was when she exhibited any sense of humor. This time, she meant all business, for she was very direct to ask for a favor. Raye knew she wasn't someone to mess around or be laid back. She was the complete opposite of his occasionally annoying but well-meant partner. "Must be very serious then, if you can't spare a moment for me to find James. What's going on over there in Maryland, Pallantine?"

"A group of civilians in Southern Maryland have gone missing, yet I cannot find any records on them. A few Japanese police officers who are part of what's called the National Police Agency are also involved. They found a witness that had taken a blow to the head. She was later found by the chief's son. I especially have been unable to find any missing person's report or any records of her or her family's existence. They've tried number after number for about an hour... We believe it may be an international sort of organized crime. If so, then they sure are trying all they can to cover their tracks."

That all too quickly raised a red flag in Raye's mind. "This is something I'd absolutely call complicated." He frowned as he tried to understand. "So this witness you say is in _Japan_?"

"Yes. Chief Soichiro Yagami and another officer, Shuichi Aizawa, have Ms. Mari Markham under their protection. Aizawa said she told them she is from somewhere over here, and that she does not remember what happened to her. I told them I'd contact you if I was unable to find anything on her, or any of the people in her phone contacts—in which I haven't. Not at all."

Raye grabbed a nearby notepad and pen on his desk. He listened to Pallantine as he wrote the name of the witness, the names of the NPA members, and underlined _international organized crime_. "It's a relief to know she's safe." _Who the hell would treat a woman to cause so much trauma? And why would...?_ The fact that Pallantine was unable to find anything on a computer also shocked him. "What else can you tell me? What are the names of the other missing people? If I could run them through the bureau database, maybe something will turn up."

He figured maybe he would be able to recall at least one other person.

"I'll tell you the first and last names I have; John Fitzgerald, Jim Bolman, Allan Lutton, Celty Sturluson, Ernie Jernigan, Linda Markham, Matt Barlow, Meredith Stockton, Michael Dawn, Norma Murphy, Robert Johnson, Frank Turner, and Shawn Ashton. The rest Chief Yagami had said were just first names, or the names of businesses. I've confirmed the numbers of Ms. Markham's phone, or at least some of them. They're just as they said; either unavailable or claimed as wrong numbers. The people I called told me that they didn't know anything. I don't know if the bureau database would do us any good, but it's still worth a try."

Raye frowned in concern again. _None of them seem familiar. Wait. Dawn... Wasn't there once a vicious arsonist and serial killer that went by that last name? I'm really sure his first name was different._ "I'll alert my superiors about this. I remember someone I know who caught a crazy mass murderer, named Darren Dawn-but he never mentioned much about any family history."

"I trust your instincts, Penber. If you find anything in connection to any of these people, let me know... I'll give you Officer Aizawa's number. He will tell you all there is to know that revolves around their witness, and what he and his superior officer suspect this may be. You might want him to send you a photo of Ms. Markham if you want to see if she can be found anywhere on your agency database. In the meantime, I'm going to be busy looking for a leads on what group would capture this many people, and haul them overseas."

His breath was caught in his throat before he said any reply. _Damn! This is very serious. Those poor people... Who or what on earth did Mari Markham_ _ **see**_ _?_ "All right. I have pen and paper ready."

After Pallantine gave him the number, she sighed. "Good luck, Penber."

"You too, Pallantine." _We'll all need it, if we're to find these people, before they end up hurt, or even killed. God..._ "If you find any leads, let me know."

"Will do. I intend to do all I can to ensure these people are found, Penber. The bastards responsible for this must be stopped, before the community over here goes through a whole world of hurt and terror." Pallantine on her end of the line sounded stressed.

"No, I wouldn't want that either. We've already had one too many a tragedy in this country... I'll give this Aizawa a call soon. We'll find these abductors, Pallantine. My partner and I will have the agency get right on it."

"Thank you. I'll talk to you later. Tell James I said hello."

Pallantine hung up before Raye could say anything up to a farewell. Another thing he just remembered about her; she was never fond of saying goodbye. When James in particular had asked her why, she said that goodbye meant forever to her and to leave it at that. She was polite yet firm to insist on it.

 _There's no time to wonder about that_ , he told himself. _There are people out there in danger. If they're to survive like Mari Markham has, I need_ _ **to get it in gear**_ _, and find my partner._

Raye stood up and moved to leave his office. He had to go find James and relay Pallantine's information out to him-and of course tell him she said hello. As soon as he was done with the briefing, he would call Shuichi Aizawa.

* * *

Didn't Chief Yagami say that Light was the one who had helped save her life? Touta Matsuda couldn't help but stare at him in awe for a minute. " _Wow. It must have been really crazy over here lately. Your father told me quite a lot, including the fact that you're a hero, Light! Mari-san would have_ _ **died**_ _if you hadn't dialed one-one-nine. Especially with... all those claws in her."_ That minute of awe had just up and left as he knew _why_ they were standing around down the hall from the hospital room the chief, a doctor, and poor Mari-san were in.

Matsuda couldn't imagine how scary it's been to have survived some really, _really_ nasty people—and attack birds too! Gosh, he felt so bad for that girl. He felt so sorry for her. Whatever it was that caused her to not remember any of that must have been too much for _any_ person to bear!

He wondered if he would do a good job to provide good company for her throughout the night. At first, he had all the confidence to do it. He felt honored when the chief first called his cell number to do the task! It just wasn't right, attacking and taking an innocent so far away from home! There was no hesitation at all when Matsuda told Chief he wanted to help Mari-san.

Maybe it wasn't just him, to not expect to have seen those very sharp talons. Those little black ones he had seen in the bathroom a little past the hospital bed looked like they could have easily ripped through her skin. _The ones in her back must hurt_ _ **really**_ _bad..._ He shuddered a bit at that. _I hope we won't have to deal with those birds. If we can find those bad guys and help save Mari-san's family and friends, then... Yeah, the sooner the better! Can't forget about that big bandage around her head either. It must be so hard for her to cope through everything!_

Light nodded to him, smiling a little. he looked nervous—no, more like stressed. _Tense_. Surely, like Matsuda, he had to be scared for her too. " _She'll be okay, Matsuda. Especially since my dad's in there._ " He might have said that to assure the both of them not to worry.

To Matsuda, Light sounded a bit distant. It was like he was off somewhere else, and not paying attention to him, or Tekeshi.

" _I believe that too_ ," Tekeshi reassured. " _She's made it this far."_

Matsuda kept looking toward the younger Yagami. " _Light? Is there something on your mind?"_

He paused in uncertainty, like he wasn't sure if he wanted to share his thoughts. _"No. I'm just really concerned about my friend, that's all. I can't begin to imagine whatever it was she saw."_

" _I can't either! We only know it's awful, what she's going through... She sure does trust you, and your father a lot, right?"_ He sighed. _"Do you think she'd see me as trustworthy too?"_ Of all things, he didn't want to cause her further distress!

Light nodded to Matsuda. _"I'm sure Mari-chan would. She's a very understanding, and kind person."_ He sounded very certain about that.

Matsuda felt one of his brows raising as he grinned in amusement. _"Mari-_ _ **chan**_ _? Ooohhh, do you_ _ **like**_ _her?"_ He chuckled. _"Not that I blame you. She does look kind of cute!"_

At first, Light looked back in surprise. Then he frowned in disapproval. _"I only see her as a good_ _ **friend**_ _, Matsuda. In what she's going through, I know she needs our full support right now."_

Matsuda suddenly felt stupid and guilty for making such an assumption. _"Right... I apologize for that."_

" _This isn't the time to be messing around,"_ said Tekeshi. Matsuda saw a very disapproving expression on the taller man's face. Out of the three of them, Tekeshi appeared to be the tallest and strongest. (Matsuda usually envied him for having extra free time to eat and work out more than himself, because he knew he'd never be able to have a physique like Tekeshi's. However, now was not time.)

" _For what it's worth, I'm glad to help. I won't let anyone down. I won't let poor Mari-san slip into a_ _ **coma**_ _, because that would make things even worse."_ Matsuda felt himself beginning to smile a little. _"I know I wouldn't mind being friends with her. I'd be happy to make a new friend..."_

No one spoke for a minute, and it made him feel uneasy. The very around them seemed thick with tension. Everyone was eager and hopeful to see Mari-san again. Everyone wanted the surgery to be done and over with—especially Mari-san herself. Matsuda bet she did! Obviously, who would want to continue to have talons sticking out of his or her body?!

Matsuda managed to suppress _that_ shudder. _It really_ _ **does**_ _seem like she must have gone through a horror movie. Injuries. Lost memories. Scary bird claws... I better not think about it too much. I wouldn't want to scare anybody worse! Not even Mari-san herself. I agree with what Tekeshi said; she's been put through enough. I should help her feel better... I'm supposed to support her through tonight._

Unlike Light, Matsuda just couldn't be in his head for long periods of time. He was too honest and concerned about people around him that he _had_ to share almost anything that was on his mind. _"I'm sorry if this question's been asked by someone before, but what kind of horrible person would go around kidnapping and hurting innocents like that?"_ He couldn't help but feel disturbed as he asked. _"What kind of_ _ **background**_ _would he come from? Someone must've not had a happy childhood at all."_

This caused Light to look sharply at Matsuda. _"This isn't just one person that's behind this. My father, Aizawa, and myself have all come to suspect it's a group, some corrupt organization or terrorists. They've managed to get Mari-chan out of the United States without getting caught, and they didn't want anyone tracking them down while doing so. And I most_ _ **certainly**_ _can imagine them coming from very violent backgrounds."_

Matsuda nodded, looking very troubled for a second as he glanced over his shoulder toward that closed door Mari-san and Chief Yagami were behind, somewhere. _"And she doesn't remember anything on what happened. That's what your father explained to me..."_ He looked back to Light and Tekeshi, feeling a strong resolve swelling up inside of him. He also began to feel mad at these criminals. These people, these terrible, _terrible_ people—what they were doing was _**evil**_! They didn't seem to really care about people at all! Altogether in what he gathered from what the chief said, and what they saw, they were savage and cruel. _"Whatever they're doing is_ _ **evil**_ _,"_ he said. _"I hope I'm actually in on this case. Because if I am, that means I can find out more on what you, Chief, and Aizawa know."_

" _That is entirely up to Yagami-sama,"_ said Tekeshi. _"He's obviously in charge of this case."_

" _I know that! So, as soon as the doctor's done, I intend to ask him about it. The more people working on this case, the better. Right?"_

Just as Matsuda finished saying that, he heard the sound of a door opening, coming in the direction he came, with Light and Tekeshi. The doctor (Hiroko, yeah, that's the name Light called her by) was coming out, rolling the table of surgical instruments in front of her. The mid-sized tweezers was partially covered in blood—Mari-san's blood, he suspected. There was a very noticeable amount of it on them. He tried not to imagine the pain she must have felt as Dr. Hiroko removed them.

" _The talon removal is over, and all her wounds have been tended to,"_ Dr. Hiroko announced. _"I'll be on my way, so you can go in and see her..."_ A wry smile showed through the winkle lines on her mouth.

" _Thank you, Doctor."_ Matsuda bowed his head to her, grateful and out of respect. _"I'm sure Mari-san is so relieved to have them all out."_

Light was thanking her soon after. There was no mistaking the gratitude and concern in his voice. _"Yes. Thank you so much. Did everything go well?"_

Dr. Hiroko nodded as she wheeled that table all the way out of the doorway. _"Yes. Everything went smoothly. Markham-san was very brave and cooperative throughout the entire procedure."_

What she said caused Matsuda to beam. _"That's great! That means she'll be just fine."_

As soon as she was far away enough from the door, Light and Matsuda were walking side by side over to it. Tekeshi was one step behind them. Light almost bumped shoulders with Matsuda, yet he stopped, and stepped aside to let him in first.

Matsuda easily switched languages as he stepped into the room, from Japanese to English. He figured it would be less awkward around Mari-san to do so. Besides, a big part of him _wanted_ her to know he wanted in on this case. "Chief." He looked towards his superior, feeling the resolve come back. "I'm just wondering; am I on the case? Because I'd like to help all I can. The more people the better. I want to help catch those terrible people, before..." Matsuda silently gulped. "Light told me there could be a group of them. From what we saw and what you told me, I think you might want me for something else. Aside from what I'm supposed to do now, I mean."

"How are you feeling?" Matsuda heard Light's voice close by to his left. From the corner of his eye, he noticed him sitting beside Mari-san.

"It feels like my right side got burned some, but I'm okay," she answered. She sounded a bit calmer than she had when Matsuda had first met her. She didn't sound as shaky, but her voice came out in a lower volume. "It hurt when she got them out, but not too much because she gave me a bit of sedative."

Chief moved to stand. "Matsuda. Would you follow me, please?"

He nodded to his name being addressed. "Of course." From the chief's stern expression, Matsuda wondered if he said something wrong.

" _We'll discuss more on the case in the hallway,_ " Chief informed, and quietly so probably Mari-san wouldn't overhear.

Matsuda seemed to understand what was meant by that. Their sole-surviving witness needed a break for once. From worrying about her family up to now, it had to have been stressful for her! _Yeah. By all means, let's_ _ **not**_ _stress her more,_ he scolded himself.

He heard Mari-san say something to him as he followed elder Yagami out the door. "If you are on board, then I'm glad you are, Matsuda-san. As you said, the more the better."

Matsuda smiled in kind and told her he'd return shortly. He was the last to exit, so he closed the door and left Light and her to talk to each other. Mari-san would need her good friend for support.

Tekeshi nodded his head in respect to Chief Yagami, but said not a word. Their superior officer in turn nodded back, and then began to walk towards the right of the corridor. At the very end of it was where the elevators were located, where Matsuda had arrived on this very floor from.

He followed him. Once they were out of hearing range from Light and Mari-san, Chief spoke to Matsuda again, very calm and quiet. _"You dedication and enthusiasm to step up and help her is welcome and most appreciated—but I must ask that you do not discuss the case around Mari at all for the remainder of this evening. She has been through the worst anyone could survive from, today. Tonight, she will need time to recover from all her injuries."_

Matsuda nodded. _"I completely understand that, sir."_

" _Let me finish, Matsuda."_

The younger of the two men looked apologetically at his superior officer, his head slightly lowered. _"I-I'm sorry. Go head, sir."_

" _Mari won't recover much if any further stress or any sort of pressure is on her..."_ The chief sighed. The man looked very, very tired. _"Right now, you are to be of her support. Your strengths go toward your optimism and moral support toward everyone on the entire force. I called you today for that very reason to be_ _ **that person**_ _towards her, to help take her mind off of things for a while."_

As Matsuda heard this explanation, he understood better. He remembered what Light said, about her needing friends. Without any of their support, she was all alone! She was lost, frightened, and needed their protection. As Matsuda realized this, he began to feel really bad for mentioning the case a minute ago.

Chief Yagami although wasn't quite done with what he wanted to tell him. _"I'm counting on you and Tekeshi to help keep her safe and secure. I'll need to drive my son home, so he could focus some on his school work. I'll need to take those claws to forensics. Aizawa has his own task to do as well."_

Matsuda waited a moment before replying. He stood attentively, both shoulders squared. He nodded to Chief Yagami, as confident as he could be. _"I promise I won't let you down. I won't let Mari-san down either! I wouldn't want to upset her..."_ He looked so sympathetic then.

The chief clapped a hand on his shoulder. _"I know."_

The weariness in his expression had Matsuda concerned. _"Chief, I hope you get some rest later. You must be exhausted, after everything that's happened. It's important to find out what attacked her, but it's also important to sleep too."_

The tired smile on the chief's face did not falter. _"I intend to do just that, after I report back to headquarters... Shall we head back?"_

A curt nod came from Matsuda. He was ready. _"Yeah, let's go."_

* * *

Behind where Aizawa sat at his cubicle for an office, Ukita had hung up his own office phone and sighed. _"Wow, this is_ _ **really**_ _not looking good... None of the Maryland locations for Verizon said they had any customers named Mari and Linda Markham."_

Aizawa glared over his shoulder towards his partner. _"_ _ **What**_ _?"_

" _I even asked to check business records for Verizon Wireless. They didn't have anything there either... There was a Brian Markham though."_

He rotated in his chair to face Ukita. _"That can't be right! I saw one of her phones had a Verizon logo on the front. That, she said, was something she just uses for music and video now. And if she would have said something about having a sibling, or relative paying the bills for a fancy phone like that."_

There was a look of uncertainty from Ukita as he shrugged his shoulders. _"Well, she might have stolen it..."_ He frowned.

" _No, I don't think so."_ Aizawa's eyes narrowed and lowered further. _What the_ _ **hell**_ _? None of this makes any sense! If Mari and Linda never went to a Verizon store to purchase a phone, then...? Could one of those lunatics be an employer over there?_ He could feel his jaws grinding together in frustration as he thought, _But why would they do that?_ _Do the bastards know we're after them?! Do they know we have her?_

" _Aizawa,"_ Ukita intervened. _"The only other reasonable explanation is that Mari and Linda could have changed their names. Maybe they were on the run from these people. Maybe something in Mari's memories is off. You did say she was by herself, waiting for the public bus to go to work, right?"_

" _She said her family doesn't have any known enemies,"_ Aizawa pointed out. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms as he voiced out his thinking. _"We're reaching a dead end here._ _ **Someone**_ _had hurt her. That's obvious in itself. You saw what she looked like."_

" _You said she was really nervous and scared..."_ Ukita looked thoughtful there. _"Could there be something she's too scared to tell anyone about?"_

Aizawa opened his eyes as he considered. _"She didn't seem hesitant at all to tell us about her neighborhood, or what the people were like... Do you think there could have been something she left out?"_ To be honest, he was unsure about that. He didn't believe, no—maybe he didn't _want_ to believe that she would be keeping anything from them about her captors.

" _You told me she can't remember what's happened to her, but we may have that variable in mind."_ Ukita let his words hang there before asking Aizawa something about what he had been researching on his laptop. _"What about that detective, L? Did you find any news articles about him?"_

Aizawa nodded to him. _"I looked up info on the case concerning Beyond Birthday... There was very little mentioning of L, and Naomi Misora. Every newspaper in California says Misora had solved the case. Not L. The papers hardly mention anything about the_ _ **details**_ _of the killings."_

Ukita's brows furrowed. _"If she said she read articles considering those murders in L.A., then why would she lie about these people?"_

A different man's voice Aizawa recognized sounded irked in overhearing the last part of their discussion about Mari. _"L.A. murders? That's way out of our jurisdiction, isn't it?"_

Aizawa looked past Ukita to see Hideki Ide, who looked like he was just passing through until their recent debating of facts in the new case had him curious. There was no mistaking how serious he looked all the time, so it was obviously Ide. _"Did you hear about the unconscious American woman Light Yagami noticed at his high school?"_

Ide nodded. _"Yeah. I did."_ He shook his head in slight disgust. _"It's not ideally a good place to leave someone out there to die... I wonder what it was the chief's son had seen, exactly."_ He rose a very thin eyebrow. _"Wait. Is that the case you're working on?"_

" _The chief's in on it too,"_ Aizawa informed him. _"Light called him about it, and he took me with him... Unfortunately isn't your typical assault. Apparently, she'd been beaten so bad she doesn't remember what happened. For a really bizarre reason, she's lost about two months worth of memories. Also, we cannot get in contact with any friends or family members."_

" _No one,"_ Ukita said. _"We have some outside help from the United States, and we were just looking into this supposedly great detective Ms. Markham told Aizawa about. Turns out Naomi Misora, this FBI agent, solved the case. Perhaps it's_ _ **her**_ _we should ask about looking into these other missing people. There's some really nasty people out there we're gonna have to deal with."_

Ide looked completely baffled. _"Yeah. Looks like it's all way over our heads to consist of just one police force here."_ He blinked. _"She can't remember_ _ **anything**_ _from the past two months? Usually it's just the event of the attack a person can't remember after going through such abuse... Wow, this is..."_

Aizawa nodded to him, his face grim. _"I know, and whatever it was she endured, she would have been killed if Light didn't alert paramedics. And right now, it's hard to say about anyone she knows."_ He took his phone out of the pocket of his slacks and opened it up. _"I think I'll give Pallantine a call about any missing reports. Ukita; see if you can look up anything and everything about Naomi Misora."_

Just as he finished speaking the suggestion to Ukita, Aizawa's phone began to buzz and vibrate in his hand. When he looked back to the screen to see any ID, it was a number he didn't recognize. The area code wasn't a number that was used anywhere in Japan. Aizawa pressed a button and raised the phone up to his ear. He answered in English. "Hello?"

For about a second, there was no one. Then, a man's voice on the other end of the line spoke. "Is this Mr. Shuichi Aizawa of the NPA?"

Aizawa nodded to Ukita. _Get to work, damn it..._

The voice had an American accent as he returned his attention towards the speaker on the other line. In assuming all the people involved in the new case were as such, he couldn't help but reply in suspicion. "Yeah, this is Aizawa. Mind if I ask who's calling?"

_If this is one of the terrorists, then I could get a trace on this call..._

"My name is Raye Penber, of the FBI. I believe you know and spoken to Deputy Lanelle Pallantine. She gave me your number. I'd like to hear all you know about Ms. Mari Markham, and ask you a few questions."

Both eyebrows were arched. Well, wasn't _this_ convenient? He wanted Ukita to look into the FBI. Right at the opportune moment, someone from the FBI calls him. _Thanks, Pallantine. You're providing us with more help than you'll ever know._ "Certainly, if you could answer my question, Mr. Penber. All for the sake of helping our witness and locating her family, you understand. I had hoped to get in touch with the FBI about this."

" _Whoa,"_ Aizawa heard his partner say. _"Perfect timing."_

FBI agent Raye Penber sounded very open and courteous. "I'm calling on a Pallantine's behalf to help, after all. What would you like to know?"

"Do you know of a Japanese-American agent named Naomi Misora?"

There was another second long pause before Penber answered, "Naomi Misora had recently resigned from the FBI last year. She's my fiancée, and no longer a member of my agency unit." Apparently, it was his turn to have a guarded tone.

 _This just keeps getting better and better_. Aizawa inwardly sighed. He didn't want to know if this day could get anymore stressful, or insane. He really didn't.

"I'm curious, Aizawa. What does she have to do with your case work? I don't believe she would know your witness personally."

 _No, not like this! I can't butt heads with the feds, or else the people Mari-san knows will be..._ "Calm down, Mr. Penber. I'm not implying that they would know each other. Mari-san had told Chief Yagami and myself about a previous solved case that your fiancée was involved with, in which she read. Ms. Misora had been co-working with the detective that goes by the alias of L. We know this to be true, for we had just found an article about the L.A. BB Murder case."

Ide and Ukita were talking in the background, but Aizawa had a lot more attention focused towards this phone call than what they were saying.

Penber's tone instantly changed from wary to puzzled. "All right, but what relevance does that have toward your case?"

Aizawa kept what Ukita said about Mari possibly holding something back. "There's something I find odd about it, between what you may know and what she may know about the L.A. case. Apart from there being no home phone records from the Markham family and no leads to any of the other missing people, Mari-san had told us it was L who had solved that case, not Ms. Misora. It's been a little too much misinformation going around."

"Hmn. Well, she could have read the article wrong. An honest mistake, right? I know for a fact that it was Naomi who solved the BB murders. She's an honest and good woman I happen to love very much. What I find more important to think about are these untraceable phone records. Deputy Pallantine in particular had said none of the people listed in Markham's phone contacts were ever reported missing."

Aizawa swore he felt his heart skip several beats as he found himself sitting back in his rotating chair. " _What_? You're serious about this?"

He heard Ide asking, _"What is it, Aizawa? What did Agent Penber say?"_

Penber continued, "Yes, I am serious, and I intend to find out why."

"I remember Mari saying that her parents are well respected members of their community." He breathed out a sigh. "A lot of things aren't matching up here, Mr. Penber."

"A lot of misinformation indeed..." Penber on the other line sounded worried. "Those who any of you contacted as claimed wrong numbers could be suspects. I heard that you've tried to help her get hold of someone for an hour before calling Deputy Pallantine. Is that correct?"

"The chief and his son were the ones who tried that," Aizawa informed him. "I was brought my office laptop for Mari-san to login on Facebook, because she said some of her relatives' numbers she didn't have had accounts."

"Was Ms. Markham able to contact any of them online?"

Aizawa's brows were furrowing as he easily recalled the frustration Light, Mari, and himself had felt. "No. We couldn't get into her account, for someone had deleted it. We couldn't even login to her E-mail. Whoever these people are, they probably wanted it to seem like she doesn't exist, or they just wanted to cover their tracks. Or both."

Ide said in the background, _"Damn. Whoever these guys are, they sure don't mess around..."_

Ukita's response to that seemed nervous. _"No, they don't. Aizawa and the chief suspect This might be international terrorism, or human trafficking."_

" _Oh,_ _ **shit**_ _. This is getting seriously intense..."_

Penber's voice came out very serious now. "I heard Ms. Markham has no memory of what happened."

"Yes," Aizawa confirmed. _It's high time they know more about what we know._ "I was told her head injury is serious to the point of having a concussion... However, we may not have enough time for the last two months worth of memory to return to her."

This bit of information shocked Penber. "What? Two _months_? How is that even possible?"

"I wouldn't know. I don't even know if Mari-san's been held captive for that long."

"Has the NPA chief's son seen any sign of the attack, or who may have fled the scene?"

"No. He never said anything about seeing anyone or anything, other than our witness."

"Deputy Pallantine told me you have a photo of Ms. Markham, on your phone."

"Yes. I suppose you'd like me to send it to you."

"Yes, it'd be much appreciated if you did. With that photo, I'd like to try and help find any records through a very encrypted bureau's database. If the specialist over here could get any facial recognition through, then we might _have_ something."

"Yeah, maybe. All right, I'll send it to you, then call you back." Aizawa hung up, then easily found and sent the picture to Penber's phone. Then, as he told him, he called his number. _"Someone call the chief,"_ he said to his colleagues while waiting for the fed to pick up. _"Our outside help in Maryland, Deputy Pallantine, was unable to find any missing person reports. Also, let him know about what we found out about L and Misora."_

Aizawa rubbed his brows as he anticipated more questions from him once he answered about receiving the photo Chief Yagami had taken of Mari. Tonight was going to be a strenuously long one. He was certain of that, and one other thing. Sleep would probably never come, and there was no forgetting about how confident Mari had sounded when mentioning L. Later, when thinking back to her talking about him, and Naomi Misora, he his mind would go over what Ukita had suggested. _Could Mari-san really be hiding something? Why? If she's so worried about getting back to her family and needs our help so much, then what would cause her to clam up?_

Later, after all conversation with Penber was over, he would wonder if Mari knew more about L, Naomi Misora, or the L.A. BB Case than what the media had mentioned. Somewhere deep in all the misleading information that's been received, Aizawa had to believe there was _some_ truth in there.

* * *

That small plastic bag of ebony serrated claws had been left on the chair where Light's father must have been sitting in again. As soon as Dad had left with Matsuda, Light had moved to peer into that bag. One of those bigger claws Dr. Hiroko must have taken great care to remove appeared to be inches longer than his middle finger. As for the width of it, it had to be at least just as thick. Mari's blood covered the hooked tip and just above those little teeth-like notches located along the downward curve of it.

He remembered how thick those downward scratches were along the right side of her back. The tips of those bigger claws were _deep_ into her skin, past a few layers of skin tissue. This wasn't something Light would forget or be able to block out of his mind very well. Seeing those protruding from her back like that—it shocked him to no end. He was frightened for his friend. What sort of animals possessed such nasty looking talons? Mari believed them to be birds, but without any evidence no definite conclusion could be revealed just yet.

His breath came out a little shaky as he returned to sit by his friend, who became very tired within under an hour. The sedative Dr. Hiroko injected was probably why she looked groggy, but Mari had mentioned its after-effect weren't going to last much longer.

It would've made much more sense if those claws had hurt her the entire time—but she told Light that it hurt when touching the bottom of the five along her lower back. There were many details that didn't make sense to him. They weren't to be overlooked. Fairly soon, when it would be time to go home, he would have to tell Dad about what he witnessed.

"We found two more smaller ones, on my chest. The doctor, Mr. Yagami, and I noticed them before the bigger ones had to come out," Mari told Light. "Words can't even begin to describe how messed up this all has been."

He looked to her, alarmed by that information. "So, there are _eleven_ in all, in that bag?" _Oh_ _ **god**_ _, there could've been one or more of whatever the hell those animals were. The people who unleashed them... They're_ _ **sick**_ _._ The disgust he had towards Mari's attackers took up space in the pit of his gut. _Her loved ones could have seen those things too!_

_Shit... We've got to find them. I hope Aizawa's found something by now. We've_ _**got** _ _to_ _**find** _ _them._

_The wounds on her back. I wonder..._ "Did Dr. Hiroko say anything about getting you stitched up?"

"No. She said it's not that serious, and the scratch marks might or might not scar over. The big ones were in deep, but not too deep..." Her hands clutched a little at her knees. "Well, I'm all cleaned up now, and they're all out. No infections to worry about."

He moved a comforting arm around her shoulders gently, being careful not to trigger any pain. What she told him had relatively calmed him down. "That's good. You'll be out of here relatively soon then."

Mari nodded as she began to relax a little too, but she never looked at him. Her blue eyes gave way as to how emotionally drained she must've felt. He knew it too; she already started to wear out before she carefully took out four little claws. "I'm in no hurry to leave. I don't mind staying an extra day, just to rest up."

"Yeah. That makes sense."

"I think in about another hour or so is when I'll have to take two more of those painkillers. They work wonders." A tiny smile found its way to her lips. The kindness and selflessness to her words were still present, but dithered down due to her weariness. "Better than _Aleve_ , that's for sure. I'll have to thank Dr. Suki again sometime, hopefully soon before whenever it's time for her to go and rest up herself. Some dinner would be good too, I guess. It's been a while since I ate anything..."

As Light listened to her talk, he had a thought. He knew Mari hated having amnesia, but if it weren't for that she would have been seriously _traumatized_. She wouldn't have been talking much at all right now.

He didn't voice this thought however. No, he didn't want to say anything in relation to the terrifying incident she had miraculously endured. If anything, he knew she shouldn't feel more distressed than she already was. Instead, he voiced his suggestions on what prepared meal to ask for. "When I was here feeling under the weather, I remember how good the soups were. I couldn't digest anything solid for a whole week, because of an awful case of the flu I had."

Mari glanced to him, and nodded. "All right, I'll keep that in mind." She paused, and looked thoughtful. "Maybe the recent evidence will lead to more that trails back to those crazy people." She sighed. "And I remember what you told me, about only hearing my notebook drop... That's _so_ weird. Did you tell anybody about what happened then? When you first saw me?"

"I intend on telling my father, on the way home. From before, I didn't think it would be wise to tell you, because of the time you were going into a panic."

"Oh, I see. I don't think that'll happen anytime soon. I have to save what energy that's left to stay awake." Mari sighed. "So, yeah... Anyway, about the animals-they could be mutant birds, or some other mutant animals on the loose. Better have your dad alert animal control, whatever the case may be. Looking into any illegal scientific activities wouldn't hurt either."

Light felt his heart stop a moment. _Oh my god, that sounds so disturbing..._ "Mutant animals? Do you believe the creature could have been man-made? Bioengineered by deranged scientists?" He shuddered, not wanting to believe she might have been held captive to be enforced participant in some dangerous experiments.

"I can't think of any sort of animal who'd normally have talons like that," she explained. A bit stress was heard in her voice. "I know quite a bit about birds and cats in particular, because I like them a lot... I like most animals a lot, actually, but that's beside the point. I'm just _really_ sure those talons aren't something that's nature designed." After she finished that last sentence, he felt her upper back muscles stiffen and tense up.

 _I've got to be strong for her. It would be_ _ **bad**_ _if she started freaking out again. If I can help her feel a little better..._ Light gave her uninjured left shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I'll pass it along to my dad, but we'd better not think any further there. Not until we find out what it was, and why it attacked."

Mari took a deep breath. "Too late." She shivered and squirmed a little in place. There was mistaking how worried and uncomfortable she was when speaking. "I really hope it's nothing about... about _bio-weapons_." She looked to him. Fear and worry he could clearly see in those widening blue eyes. "Light-kun. Are you familiar at all with the Resident Evil video games?"

This caused him to pause and think back. _That rings a bell, but what does that have to do with scientists creating some new species of animal? What's causing her to even think about video games in a time like this?_

She spoke again when he hadn't told her anything. "In that series, the second game in particular, the people who ran a pharmaceutical company created this virus that mutated some plants and animals."

_...Umbrella._

_No._ _**No** _ _, no one in their_ _**right minds** _ _would actually make viruses that turn people into zombies, or mutated abominations! And, even if those bastards ran some kind of military, or pharmaceutical company..._

Light tried not to let his fear show as he made spoke to her calmly. He had to help her keep calm again. "Yeah. I remember all that, but we don't know if this is really the case. We don't even know what those claws in that bag will tell us. I doubt a corrupt organization like Umbrella Incorporated exists somewhere in this world, especially when it concerns whoever _these people_ are..." He exhaled, and then softened his voice. He continued, preventing himself from sounding spiteful. Having self control over his emotions was an important factor in order to help them both feel less afraid.

Light honestly didn't know Matsuda very well; only through a few previous cases he helped to solve. He felt it only right to leave her feeling less scared and agitated for Matsuda to have an easier time to help her out in any way he could. If he could do that, then the both of them would have a not so stressful night.

"I don't believe they'd reveal _anything_ to the public about themselves. You wouldn't be here if they did." He placed a comforting hand on both of hers, and watched as Mari listened, taking that explanation in. "Your family wouldn't be in an environment like that, Mari-chan."

"When you put it that way... You're right. That makes sense."

"It's just not humanly possible, so we can definitely rule that out," he assured, and lightly patted her shoulder. "We're quick to fear the worst-and that's completely normal. But we can't trust ourselves to think clearly when really scared."

"Even when something like amnesia may throw you off," Mari added. "It's like I haven't been myself, or at least a little less like myself." In remaining to sit right beside her, Light however felt not significant changes as to how tensed up she was. "I've been so uneasy, stressed out, and paranoid." She frowned in afterthought as she was wearing out. " _Immensely_ paranoid. And that's not really like me."

"I understand. I really do," Light empathized. He paused, and centered his thoughts before continuing. "From what you said earlier, in running your own bookstore... That clearly makes you an independent person, wouldn't it?"

Mari leaned on him a little, her head on his shoulder. Her voice came out a little quieter, and breathier. "Somewhat. I can't say I'm really dependent or clingy toward anyone either. I'm somewhere in between."

He didn't mind her leaning on him. He knew she was tired, but he hoped she wasn't going to pass out. Dr. Suki had spoken the possibility of Mari having a concussion, after all. "I understand better on what you're going through then. You being here, and the fact you can't remember how or why you're hurt is something that's out of your control." He softly rubbed up and down her arm a little. "Anybody would feel the same, Mari-chan. I would too."

Light noticed a lop-sided grin appear on Mari's lips. "You've hit the nail right on the head, Light-kun. It's all been so overwhelming."

"Yeah, it really has," he agreed. He heard his tone softening. "Aizawa, my father, Matsuda, Dr. Suki, even myself—we've all felt overwhelmed, and frustrated..." The anger Light felt towards such horrible and despicable people who were doing such maliciously evil deeds was returning. However, Light inwardly gave it a shove and continued to focus on his attempt to be there for her. This case mattered to him on another level too. This challenge to track down and catch this aggressive, organized group of criminals had given him a purpose. Light didn't really believe in coincidences very much. Most things happened for a reason.

Someone had to be there to stick their neck out, help protect this woman, and help find both her loved ones and those scumbags that caused them all so much fear and pain. Someone had make a difference in this crazy, rotten world. Why wouldn't it be Light? He only wanted to be noticed, and to be seen as a good example of what a person _ought to be_. He'd done all he was supposed to do; be a good son to his parents, going to school and excelling it, keep his lifestyle clean and orderly, treat others the way they'd want to be treated. It's been exhausting at times, but he refused to quit until he would truly be noticed for all his valiant efforts.

As he had hoped, someone indeed had noticed him—but Mari Markham and her unsettling load of problems have been the most unexpected and unorthodox chain of events to ever occur. This wasn't just in his life, but as far as it would go in human history.

Today had brought a lot. This entire afternoon, as crazy and stressing as it's been, had overall gave him a direction. Also, as today was about to come to a close, he wanted to provide all the support he could give to Mari. He promised her he'd help her reunite with her parents, and he wasn't going to let her down. As honorable as it's been to befriend her, he also knew helping her was the right thing to do.

He paused a moment as he saw how tired and sad she looked. In hearing and understanding what she told him about not having amnesia before, it seemed that she wasn't to ever feel truly centered or comfortable with herself until her memories came back. _She's going to have a hard time coping..._ "Hey, don't be sad... If you need help remembering something, or anything else, you can always count on any one of us. Especially me."

"I know..."

Mari's murmured response and her droopy eyes concerned him. "Don't fall asleep, Mari-chan. You need to stay awake until further notice from Dr. Suki."

She sat up, and looked at him. "I'm not. I was only listening."

"I realize tonight's going to be tough to endure, but you'll pull through this. Look; maybe you won't have to stay up all night, okay? We'll have to wait and see."

Mari nodded as he heard the door open. As he turned his head in that direction, he saw Dr. Suki move in a fast walk towards them. She looked so concerned. Matsuda and Dad followed her in.

"Mari-san, oh good _Lord_... Dr. Hiroko told me what happened, with the bird talons."

"Yeah, that really freaked me out. Freaked everyone else out too. I'm okay though, and glad that's over," Mari assured.

Dr. Suki didn't seem very convinced. "You look exhausted. Are you in any pain right now?"

Light saw Dr. Suki's patient respond in a laid back manner. "I have a bit of a headache. I feel like my right side is stinging, but I'm hanging in there."

Dad moved towards the chair, and picked up that small plastic bag of eleven claws. "Will it be required for her to be up all night, Doctor?"

"No," Dr. Suki replied. "Just until midnight, I believe. I'll be leaving soon, but before that I'll send someone over to check up on her."

"That's a relief," Mari sighed. "I thought I was going to have to stay up much later..." Matsuda had closed the door behind him, and walked around them to stand nearby the other side of the hospital bed as Mari asked Dr. Suki, "How long has it been, since I first took those first two pain killers?"

"It's been almost long enough," came her reply. "Wait just thirty-five minutes more, before taking the next two." She patted Mari's right shoulder softly. This caused her patient to wince a little.

"Got it."

"Why didn't you say anything earlier? I could've have brought someone to get them out sooner."

"I didn't feel them hurting in me," Mari explained. "I didn't even notice until I had to take a restroom break."

Light could hear the confusion and worry in Matsuda's voice. "What? _Really_? They should be x-rayed then... I don't know. Maybe it's not a bird. Some other animal, maybe." He immediately and nervously looked to Dad as he babbled on. "I know. I shouldn't have said that, but it _does_ make you wonder..."

Mari glanced to Matsuda. "Are you saying that the thing that scratched me is somehow _venomous_?"

He gulped. From the shock Light could observe on his expression, he hadn't thought that far. "Oh I hope not!" He turned to Dr. Suki in desperation. "You don't have any anti-venom, right?"

"Calm down, Matsuda," Dad told him. "She's not poisoned."

Despite that sudden chill Light felt down his spine, her question was definitely something to consider. "The marks weren't fatal," he pointed out. "Whatever it is, the venom can't be an actual threat to humans. What could have been venom may have only numbed the pain, if paralyzed her some."

"Venom through the claws..." Mari looked between Matusda and Light. "There's a desert lizard I know of that's capable of unleashing an attack like that. I remember reading about it online once. There was some article I once read, about the venom being used to make into a chemical that's treatment against diabetes."

Dr. Suki realized which lizard she was talking about. "The gila monster? But... their venom _can_ be harmful to people. It could get bad if they're don't receive treatment in time. Not fatal, but getting attacked by one could still be awful."

"Yeah," Mari confirmed. "But their claws _aren't_ serrated, right?"

The other woman shook her head. "No, I don't believe so."

"That's what I thought."

"Wait," Light cut in. "Lizards don't attack in groups though. They're solitary animals." It was right then he began to think that Mari could be right on animals being mutated into something else in a science lab somewhere. He noticed Mari looking at him, who must have realized the same thing.

"Right," Matsuda agreed. "Anyone knows that!" He brought a hand up to his chin, puzzled. "So... Could there be some _new_ species of gila monster no one's heard about? That moves as a pack?"

"I doubt that," Dr. Suki reasoned. "Any lizards with pack-like behavior would have been reported all over the news by now..." She shivered, uneasy about where this conversation was going. "And now that I think of it, I really can't think of _any_ lizard who has serrated claws."

"Because that's not anything natural," Light said. "They couldn't have come from the wild..." He looked from the good doctor to Matsuda, to Dad. "Mari-chan shared a theory with me earlier-on someone experimenting and mutating animals."

"This can't be happening," worried Matsuda. "No _way_. Are these people, like, _mad scientists_ or something?"

"Here's an idea; let's _not_ start thinking that way," Mari suggested.

Light kept both eyes toward his father's reaction, wanting to see what he thought about this. He frowned in a way that seemed like a terrible odor had entered the room. "Yes, I agree with her. Not unless evidence proves otherwise... Illegal experimentation, however, could still be a possible lead. That seems to make sense. " Dad looked directly at Light. "We should start heading out, and get you home."


	15. Important Message from the Author

Hello, you awesome people of Archive of Our Own! I have great news, and sad news... First, let me write out my sincere apology to you all. I’m really truly sorry to have left you all hanging for so long, without a word! I’ve been so, so busy. Busy like _whoa_! It’s not just about my job at my bookstore. There’s something much more, but I’ll get to explaining that in a little while.

Right now, I want to express on how amazing it’s been. Over seventy people altogether on here and on fanfiction dot net have enjoyed this story. It really is incredible to witness how popular “Collide” has become! It brings me joy, and gratitude to know that this crazy train of creativity I’ve come up with has received so much love. I wish I could shake your hands, and give you autographs (haha)! With all of my being, _I thank you_!

Really, it sucks that I don’t have the time or funds to arrange a meet and greet at a fun event such as an anime convention. I truly wish I could arrange some sort of get-together and talk to you all.

How many of you live in my state, Maryland? I’m in the Southern MD area. To any readers who do, _maybe_ we could arrange something (send me a PM)... I want to do what I can to make it up to at least some people, something really good and beneficial. Maybe together we could come up with a fun event, a meet and greet.

In addition, with that in mind, the best I can do for ALL of you is to break things down and tell you a lot of truth, starting with the bad news about my story. I’m starting to get that sinking feeling in my chest as I’m typing this part up. I hate to tell you this, I really do – but I’m going to have to put “Collide” on indefinite hiatus, for a really damn good reason. **_Don’t leave yet_**! I have a really good and important explanation on _why_ it has to happen! I thought about this quite a bit, soon after seeing an e-mail notification about my latest number of followers. After quite a bit that’s happened throughout this year, I figured it was time to apologize in all honesty and sincerity, in addition to introducing you towards important information, and wisdom to apply to your lives. It’s so important for all of you to know what I know.

Everything I’m about to explain is all true. With the kind of imagination I have, it’s far too disturbing and elaborately troubling to make up what I must tell you.

Most wouldn’t even picture certain things. I’m not sure how many of you are aware on how criminal and dishonest the U.S. government is. The start of what I began to research on, a major part of that has got to deal with them! Again, please don’t navigate away from this page. _This is really important_! Please read what I’ve got to say, all the way through to the end.

Before 2016 even started, I had seen videos about a certain government agency being accused of being very, very terrible. I tend to be an open-minded person, and I didn’t just disregard it as “conspiracy theory bunk.” Whenever I wasn’t writing anything, I would go on YouTube a lot. There’s so much on there, you know? There’s so much more than what most would ever imagine, more than funny animal videos and all the other entertainment videos, ranging from comedic, to gaming, to simple how-to videos, etc... During one evening in January, I came across an old CBS News segment, dated 2007, about that certain government agency handfuls of users on YouTube have been focusing to expose and warn people about; the **Federal Emergency Management Agency** (FEMA). How much news have you paid attention to, when it came to the devastating natural disaster that was Hurricane Katrina? Thousands of people lost their homes. FEMA came to the rescue very late, and gave them these white trailers for new homes. What CBS News reported in 2007; these thousands of people had been getting seriously ill due to the unsafe levels of insulated formaldehyde. Formaldehyde, I’ve learned, is very toxic! Several people who were using these trailers for homes developed symptoms such as nose bleeds, headaches, burning of the eyes, chronic diarrhea, and respiratory problems. FEMA had tried to cover all this up, and they got caught! I’ll leave you a link to that video I saw! (Please open each link in a new window or tab. There's still more to this message.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnA_NvDul6M When I watched this, I was sure surprised. But, wait, there’s more! I also saw another CBS News segment about these two trailer workers to speak out, on how poorly inspected the trailers were. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQQcT0Tgpp4 FEMA is supposed to help people out during natural disasters, that’s official information about them on their website, along with what the mainstream media would say about them, most of the time. Those two people were put under a lot of pressure from their bosses of the trailer manufacturer company called Gulfstream.

Of course, all that happened so long ago. Publicly, they’d have you believe that all is fine. There’s no more poisonous trailers anymore... “Bye bye to that problem! It all went away,” the mainstream media would say. Many would care less if they all just vanished into thin air, and not question it. Soon after I saw those two CBS segments, I saw this 19 minute long documentary about the aftermath of the failed FEMA cover-up. I’ll link you to that as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtj6o-cBHQE

If you can’t spare that much time to watch, here’s the gist. After the Supreme Court trial, there was an order to hold all of those trailers as evidence. That ended in 2010. FEMA came to gather their trailers, and auctioned them off. They sold them in large lots for cheap! Whoever went to these auctions had resold them, and removed the “NOT FOR HOUSING” labels. Those who couldn’t afford safe houses or other brands of trailers and/or RVs – they were not informed or warned at all about the harmful dangers of formaldehyde! Researcher and medical anthropologist Nicholas Shapiro, the host of the documentary “People are still living in FEMA’s toxic trailers”, tracked them down by vehicle identity number (VIN). He traveled all across the USA to locate the trailers, talk to the people who used them as homes, and tested to see if their homes for how poisonous they were. This documentary was uploaded on YouTube in late August of last year. I was so shocked about this. I searched on YT and Google for TV news reports about Nicholas Shapiro and the honest good work he had done. I found only one alternative news report article (maybe a few more) about this. No major TV network or newspaper reports, not a single one! In that documentary, there’s no “special movie effects”, and I even found information about Shapiro. I’ll share that with you.

(Ugh, my FF dot net profile editing won't allow me to put down many links. I'm really sorry about that. Just look up "Nicholas Shapiro medical anthropologist" on Google.) In seeing all those videos and doing quite a bit of research, that’s when I woke up. I began to question why! FEMA is still in business. Why didn’t any news reporters talk to Shapiro? Why didn’t any police enforcement do anything to lock those incompetent crooks up? This is about SEVERAL innocent people, who weren’t warned about the dangers of long-exposure to formaldehyde, to which is used to preserve the dead. This is also in pesticides, right? That’s when I began to wonder about other terrible government crimes the mainstream media doesn’t report about... I even found some books in my bookstore that went into extensive detail on suspicious criminals within the government, about some of Obama’s Czars. People in his administration. There have definitely been some I have done a little research on. Alan Bersin is someone from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who was giving court representatives the run around months back. He wasn’t giving any straight answers as to why certain immigrants were overstaying their visas. On YouTube, search for my playlist "Info about Obama's Czars I find interesting". The Alan Bersin video is at the bottom.

FEMA and DHS have been working together. R. David Paulison, who’s in the CBS News segment about the failed FEMA cover up, was not only a former director. He was also the first Under Secretary for DHS! Google his name and you'll find out that info on Wikipedia.

If you’re not already concerned about this, then you’re not giving this much thought! There are people who run things in America who are criminals! They are selfish, greedy criminals who don’t give a shit about any of us. There’s even more that I found out, this past January. What absolutely shocked, upset, and angered me was the alarming and ugly truth about schools! I found this book, by a public affairs speaker from Washington D.C. Beverly K. Eakman has had a distinguished career in both politics and education. Her book, “Educating for the New World Order” goes into much, MUCH detail about what a mother of three children in Washington County, Pennsylvania. What started as a complaint about a personality profiling assessment test in the mid 1980’s had turned into a massive investigation into a whole lot of other illegal activities!

Some of you might be shaking your heads, or rolling your eyes while thinking, “Oh great, she’s turned into a conspiracy theorist nutjob!” Well, let me tell you this. I have researched into quite a number of things that I read about from Eakman’s book. There's more info that's not by Anita Hoge (the mother of the 3 kids who are likely all grown up by now) or Beverly Eakman about the psychological manipulation technique known as the Delphi Technique. Google search! There are people known as change agents who don’t major in college on how to subtly provoke and orchestrate the flow of group meetings. Of course not!

Some of you are probably in college, right? Have you ever learned about any of that, about how psychology can be used as a tool to manipulate and exploit others? I didn’t. I’ve been looking up the information for myself, on my own time. I found some of the _leaked government agency documents_ Eakman and Hoge have looked at, including Ronald G. Havelock’s “Training for Change Agents: A Guide to the Design of Training Programs in Education and Other Fields”. This goes into depth as to how the Delphi Technique works. I didn’t read all the way through this PDF file, but I sure have found the places Eakman had referenced from this training manual that people in the U.S. Department of Health, Welfare, and Education have looked at. This was first published in the early 70’s. If you want to read that PDF for yourselves, just PM me. I'll share you the link from my Dropbox account. There’s a LOT to read there, and so far I read enough from Eakman’s book to understand how the Delphi Technique works with school staff. Teachers in workshops and during inservice days get brainwashed (and usually don’t realize it until it’s too late) to teach propagandized lessons to kids. That manual is about how to become an advocator-organizer-agitator, and get away with it. It has nothing to do with supporting anyone as individuals.

This is about GROUP THINK, thinking as a collective whole. How much do you know about the Common Core Standards? I’ve been researching into that a lot, and I tell ya, academics is not really a priority! (How many of you are still students? How many of you have recently graduated? You realize that you did all that testing for nothing, right? Those tests are only beneficial to a bunch of lunatic crooks!) My education was quite decent, thanks to Anita Hoge. I graduated from high school in 2002, and took over my family’s bookstore business soon after that. I found Anita Hoge on Twitter while I was in the middle of reading Eakman’s book. She’s an underdog American hero who still protests and gets the word out to people. I thanked her. I had to, because I know I didn’t see any seriously upsetting films in any of my classes. I didn’t have to take any tests that questioned my privacy, values, and beliefs. (However, in middle school, they tried to keep me in special ed. They claimed I couldn’t predict outcomes. Not to their standards anyway! I wrote stories in my spare time, and I was a great speller! People like that love money more than guiding their students towards academic achievement.)

I’ve learned so much mind boggling information that I did not learn in school at all. When I was first learning a great deal about this stuff, I felt so shocked, betrayed, and furious. I still get furious, and frustrated sometimes, but I can’t let myself get too angry. After reading Eakman’s book all the way through, I’ve never been able to look or think of things the same way again. All of you need to understand this. There is so much wickedness that’s hidden in plain sight! There is also plenty of truth you can easily search for online. As soon as you’re growing up in this world, you go through the indoctrination on how to be a good citizen, and how to obey and contribute to the whole of society. How to obey people of authority who don’t really care about you, sick or healthy, dead or alive.

There’s so much. Don’t bother educating yourselves about everything all at once! If you try to breath it all in, you’ll suffocate. You would be so overwhelmed. You’ve got to learn it all a chunk at a time! That’s how I’ve been doing it! This is why I haven’t been doing much fanfiction writing at all, and I believe I’ve explained plenty for now.

Through my words, I hope I’ve knocked enough sense into you. Please, please do not take this information for granted. Hold onto your individuality, your identity. Stay true to yourselves. Never forget who you are, and don’t trust the government! Don’t trust the mainstream media either! They lie all the time. They’re so good at lying and telling you what you want to hear, as well as influencing in subliminal ways on how you should think, feel, and act. Don’t allow yourselves to be dumbed-down sheeple. A bunch of free-thinkers is something they don’t want, and it’s what they’re terrified of. They’re even more scared about death, and they would do anything to ensure their survival; deceiving, killing, stealing, and profiting from all of that. Never forget this!

Also, there’s more of us than there are of them! We’re the 99 percent! They are the fucked up 1 percent! They make the laws for us to follow, while they believe they’re free to do whatever greedy, nasty, insane things they want - which isn’t fair at all!

I’ve given what I could to you for now. Share my knowledge to everyone you care about, and use my profile for reference to look back on! Do your own research while you still can, at your own pace. Rushing to know all there is to know won't help you. You might miss or skip over certain details! You must be thorough. Remember what I said earlier, about a meet and greet, to anyone who's a fan in MD. PM me if you are interested in planning anything... Find me on Twitter! My username: darkwriter00, about the same as my pen name on this site! Anita Hoge's Twitter accounts: HogeAnita and HDawn29


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